A New Chapter: A Blank Page
by Backstroker98
Summary: All new chapters of books start with a blank page. For Jess, her next chapter of life is starting out pretty rough. Assassins, her kidnapped boyfriend, and family she never knew she had is entering her life that throws more curve balls her direction. She will be pushed to her breaking point and if too much pressure is applied, she might just snap. Derek/OC Rated T for romance
1. Preface

Hey all you beautiful people! This is the sequel to my previous story, Rereading Pages. For those of you who have read the two stories prior to this, you can just move right along to the first chapter, but if you haven't read the first two stories I am going to give you a summary of what happens in them so you don't have go back and read them. Also the writing in the two previous stories is alright, but my writing has improved the last couple of months so I am hoping everyone gets what they need to know from the summaries so they don't have to go back and read the first two fan fictions.

**Off the Pages (Seasons 1 and 2)**

After Scott is bit by Peter, he enlists the help of Jessica Cadwell who is an expert in all things mythology and folklore thanks to her father, Alex, who was a professor of those topics. He was once a hunter with Chris and Kate in much earlier years, but backed out of it after he met Jess's mother, Megan because he did not want her to be exposed to the supernatural world. He never told Megan nor Jessica about his involvement with the Argents and never told them that supernatural creatures do in fact exist. He taught Jessica everything she knows in hope that she would understand why he did what he did with the Argents when he told her, but he never got the chance. Alex found out Kate set the Hale House fire and she had him shot to keep him from saying anything to the police. This was Jessica's freshman year. In her senior year is when Scott is bit and enlists her for help. She agrees to and she gets reacquainted with her once biology partner, Derek Hale. They begin dating in the first season chapters and later on Jess is bit by Peter in the later chapters of season one. She survives the bite and becomes a werewolf herself, only she becomes what is known as a strong beta which makes her have better abilities than an average beta werewolf.

At the beginning of season two, Derek breaks things off with Jess while he builds up his new pack. Jess and her mother's relationship is tense being that Jess has not told her that she is a werewolf which results in constant lies. Derek and Jess get back together after her, Derek, and Stiles are trapped in the pool by Jackson in later chapters. He gives her a necklace that promises she will never be alone, that she'll always have him. Their relationship becomes very tense and rocky with everything going on and not being able to trust one another fully being that Jess stands by Scott. At the police station when Matt holds them hostage, Jess's mother is killed after she is shot by one of the Argent's men which leaves Jess utterly shattered. She reveals to Derek that she was accepted to a college a couple hours away and chooses to leave Beacon Hills behind to start a new life. This makes their relationship tenser and it becomes worse after Jessica finds out from Gerard of her father's involvement with the Argents and the truth behind his death which is something Derek has known all along. In the season two finale, Jess becomes an alpha while protecting Derek from Allison's harm. After the final showdown with Gerard and Jackson, Derek and Jess break up again so that Jess can leave Beacon Hills with no loose ends. She loves Derek, but wants to move on and he lets her go so she can do that.

**Rereading Pages (Seasons 3A and 3B)**

Four months later, Jess returns to Beacon Hills when Allison comes to her campus and tells her bad things are happening. At first Jess doesn't want to go back, but eventually does when she is offered a student teaching position at the high school. When she gets back, she and Derek rekindle their romance once again. Things go well for a while, but Jess goes away with the alpha pact to keep them from hurting anymore of her friends and Derek after they break into his apartment. The night where Derek and Ennis fall from the elevator is when she leaves the pack to be with her friends, but is left broken again when she thinks Derek is dead. He finds his way back to her barely alive and he gives her a diamond necklace for her nineteenth birthday that was once his mother's. He tells her he loves her for the first time when he gives it to her. The night Scott and the others discover that it is Jennifer who is the Darach, she uses her powers to take Jess's alpha's powers from her, turning her back into a beta werewolf once again. In the 3A finale, Derek reveals that he is leaving with Cora and wants Jess to come with him. She explains that she can't leave Scott and the others again which causes them to get into argument, resulting in yet another break up. After Jennifer is killed by Peter, Jess gets her alpha powers back.

A few weeks later, Jess goes with Braden to get Derek and Peter. Derek asks if they could talk about their relationship, but Jess shoots his offers down and reveals that she is moving on. When Derek returns the night of the black light party, he discovers Jess is there with her date, Kyle. He still loves her and wants her back, but she tries to put distance between them. She continues her romance with Kyle for a while and Derek grows more and more jealous. Major tension develops between the two and after seeing Jess and Kyle together, Derek tries to let Jess go so she is happy even if it isn't with him. Unfortunately after Jess is electrocutes, she kisses Derek when she is under the influence of wolfs bane that makes her loopy and think she and Derek are still together. Derek doesn't tell her when she wakes up the next day without any memory of it which angers Jess and they fight once again. She tells him to leave her alone.

The two give each other space but after thinking Derek is killed in the explosion at the sheriff's department and almost running into the building to save him before the bomb goes off, Jess realizes that she still loves Derek and wants to be with him. She breaks things off with Kyle and then her and Derek rekindle their romance once more. In the season three finale Jess is stabbed by the Oni and dies in Derek's arms. Only she doesn't stay dead. With the help of the extra spark that made her an alpha, her body is able to heal and she lives. She reveals to Derek that there was only one guy before her that she loved and she was afraid to love someone again, but he was an exception. The last chapter also reveals the Jess has a brother, Maxton, who she never knew about.

So those are the stories! Now you don't have to back and read through the old stories and you are caught up in what's happening now.


	2. Return

**A/N Please Read!**

**Hey everyone! I am so glad to be back with the sequel to Rereading Pages! I hope you like the title! It is actually a combination of suggestions that I received. Shadowblade217 suggested the title Blank Pages and Atlafan1286 suggested A New Chapter and I liked both of them so much that I found a way to use both of them! All title credit goes to those both so thank you so much you too! All the suggestions I got though were great though! Before I get into it, I just wanted to alert everyone that because she was dead for some time, Jess will be a beta for the rest of this story. It happened to Ethan and Aiden when they were almost killed by Jennifer in Season 3A and Derek too when he saved Cora. All of them turned back into betas when they used up that extra spark that made them an alpha so Jess is a beta again and will be for the continuation of this story. **

**Well it is my honor to say after so long:**

**The sequel to Rereading Pages will begin here! Welcome to "New Chapters Start With A Blank Page"!**

**Disclaimer: This buzz kill… I do not own anything from Teen Wolf. Just my OCs and original plot ideas. Everything else goes to their rightful owners.**

**OOOOO**

_To the one whose dreams have fallen all apart_

_And all you're left with is a tired and broken heart_

_I can tell by your eyes you think you're on your own_

_But you're not alone_

_(Safe-Phil Wickham)_

In the living room of the McCall living room, Scott and Stiles sat together on the couch. Scott had his elbows on his knees while his foot tapped on the hardwood floor anxiously and Stiles was leaning back against the couch cushions chewing on his sweatshirt string as he checked the clock every five seconds. The room was quiet with the exception of the tapping of Scott's foot and the clock ticking. Melissa and Rafe were at work until later tonight so they weren't around and it was Saturday afternoon so everyone else was doing something while they had the two day break from school.

Stiles glanced at the clock to check the time again. It read three fifteen. "Are you sure she's coming?" he asked Scott. "Like did she say she would be here?"

"She said she'd be down here this afternoon." Scott answered, his eyes glued to the floor.

"But-"

"But nothing. It's Jess. If she said she'd be here she will be here. Especially if we have a lead on Derek."

Another silence fell among the best friends. After Derek disappeared, Jess searched California up and down for two weeks in an attempt to find her boyfriend even though Deaton and Scott advised her not to. With being left as a beta from dying and coming back to life, she wasn't as strong as she once was and her body still wasn't completely healed which meant she was working her body too much too fast. She would still be searching for Derek if it wasn't for the fact that she started to fall behind in school. Her grades were slipping, assignments weren't turned in, and she didn't go back for midterms. Her super intendant called her and said if she didn't return to the campus and make all of her work up in a month, she would lose her scholarship and be kicked out of school. Her hands were tied. She couldn't get kicked out of school and returned to school, but she wanted to find Derek. Scott promised her before she left that he would call her if he found anything that led them to Derek.

As Scott sat there waiting for the return of one of his closest friends, he thought back to the last time he saw her.

_**Flashback**_

_Jess closed the trunk of her Mustang and turned towards Scott. "Are you sure you'll be alright?" he asked her. She shrugged. Right now, she felt like absolute crap. Her body ached, her eyes felt heavy, and all she wanted to do was sleep but she couldn't knowing Derek was still missing. And now she going back to school to make up about half a month of school work would require pulling all-nighters until it was done. "I just miss him, Scott." Jess said. "Right when I get him back and things were fixed, he's gone. And I…I didn't even know he was in trouble…" _

_ Scott hugged Jess and she hugged him back weakly. She hated leaving like this again, but she really didn't have much of a choice. But now that Stiles was alright and everyone seemed to be coping as well as expected from the deaths of Allison and Aiden, Jess figured she wouldn't be doing too much harm. She hasn't spoken to Isaac since he left and she missed him, she did, but he was moving on and so should she. _

"_We are gonna find him. I promise. And if anything comes up you will be the first person I call." Scott eventually said. _

_ "Thanks Scott."_

_ The two separated and Jess wiped her eyes. "You sure you'll be alright on your own? You know since you aren't an alpha anymore…" Scott questioned. _

_ "In all honesty I don't think I was ever met to be an alpha…" Jess answered. "I was never a leader, but I'm also not really a follower either."_

_ "So now you're just gonna be an omega?"_

_ "Techniquely, but if there's one thing I'm sure is that people like you and I Scott…we're never alone."_

_ "What about your brother?"_

_ Jess hesitated. According to the birth records and certificates, Maxton was Jess's older brother. According to him, Jess's parents had him when they were still in school and didn't want to have an abortion. So the two had him, but gave him up for adoption. It was a closed adoption, so Maxton didn't even know he was adopted until after he was eighteen when his parents decided to finally tell him. He didn't start looking for his birth parents until after he graduated college three years ago because he had no desire to meet them for a while. He found out that Alex was dead and knew Megan was still alive with a daughter, but really didn't want to meet them quite yet. Then he got word that Megan was killed and the only family he had left was a sister who was six years younger than him. It took a while to build up the courage to drive down to see her, but he finally did. _

_ After showing up at her apartment, Max and Jess talked for a long time and he showed her the records which stunned her. Her parents never said anything about having a kid before her or hinted at it in anyway. Maxton only lived about two hours from Beacon Hills and finally drove down to meet Jess and explain that he was engaged and wanted her in the next part of his life. Jess was overwhelmed by the information and asked Maxton to give her some time. He agreed and then returned home after the two exchanged contact information._

_ "I haven't called him." Jess told Scott. "He's sent me a couple of emails, but I don't know. I mean for a long time I didn't have any family and then all the sudden he shows up."_

_ "Jess, you're my family. And Stiles's. You're like a sister to the both of us." _

_ Jess gave him a half smile and then kissed his cheek. "Thank you. Stay out of trouble while I'm gone."_

_ Scott chuckled softly and watched as she walked over to the driver's side. She slipped inside of her car while Scott stepped up onto the curb. He watched as she started the car and pulled out into the road, tears threatening to fall at the sight of one of his best friends leaving again. Her car disappeared quickly and it left Scott standing on the curb alone as the tears spilled over._

_**End of Flashback**_

Both Scott and Stiles had missed Jess the last two months. She sent them a text when she could and occasionally called, but she was buried up to her neck in school work the first month back at school. Luckily she was able to make up all of her work in time and passed all of her tests with flying colors. Her grades were back to what they were before and she was still at the campus so she didn't fall behind again. It became pretty clear that Derek wasn't going to be found with her just looking and until a clue or lead came up, the trail was cold.

But then a breakthrough happened.

Scott has had those bullet casings for a while that he found at the loft, but didn't know what the symbol on them meant. With Argent gone and no other hunters in Beacon Hills to tell them whose shells they were, Scott had to wait for Deaton to return from a trip to Washington to find out who shot up Derek in his loft. Deaton explained to Scott that it was a group of hunter from Mexico who were very, very dangerous. He worded it like, "If you thought the Argents were bad, the Calaveras make the Argents look they just got out of basic training."

Deaton told Scott that if they wanted Derek back they would need money for a deal to be made. A lot of money. Luckily the Japanese Mafia was able to help them in that department. The first thing Scott did though after finding out where Derek most likely was is call Jess.

She said she would be down as soon as she could.

Now Scott and Stiles were anxiously awaiting for her arrival. Scott called yesterday and she was expected back sometime today. Minutes felt like hours and hours felt like days as they waited for her, especially since the day had mostly been quiet between Scott and Stiles. Eventually Stiles couldn't take it and tried to make conversation.

"Were you eve jealous of Derek?" Stiles asked.

Scott looked at him. "Why would I have been jealous?"

"Because after you saw Jess do her solo in her junior chorus concert you had a crush on her our entire freshman year."

Scott chuckled at the memory. He totally forgot about that after he met Allison his sophomore year. "Yeah, but she never would have liked me. She didn't even notice me until I asked her to help me after Peter bit me. Besides her and Derek are good together."

"Are you kidding me? Those two need counseling of some kind with all the issues they have." Stiles said.

"At least they work through them."

The two friends fell into a silence again before Scott heard it: the sound of a familiar Mustang engine turning onto Scott's street. Scott got to his feet and Stiles stood up with him. "She's here." Scott said. The boys all but sprinted out of the house and into the front yard just as she pulled up. The driver door opened and Jess stepped out into the grass.

The second Jess pulled up, she saw Scott and Stiles run out. She smiled at the sight of her two closest friends and opened the door to get out. She stood up and saw Stiles and Scott break out into smiles before running up to her. The only thing she had time to do was close the door before Scott reached her and pulled her into a bone crushing hug. It was the kind of hug that took your breath away and made you feel loved. Jess hugged Scott back and was so happy to be back again.

Once she hugged Scott, she looked at Stiles and was welcomed into his arms. "Oh my God I missed you." Stiles said through a breath.

"I missed you, too." Jess replied as she began to choke up.

Stiles let her go and looked at her. She looked a lot better than she did when she left. Her skin had more color to it, her blue eyes were vibrant, and her smile was bright and authentic. She was thinner, but that isn't what caught his attention. What caught his attention was that her hair that used to be a beautiful shade of brown was now blonde. Like pure blonde. "What did you do to your hair? Stiles immediately asked. Jess laughed and ran a hand through her soft hair. "I went to the salon yesterday to get it recolored and they messed up the dye so now I have to wait a few weeks until I can but the brown back." She explained. "Why you don't like it?"

"No it's just…different."

Looking at Jess, Scott realized just how different she was from when they first met when she was a senior in high school. She used to have hair black as night and wore colors that were dark like blacks and greys with colors like crimson and olive to add just a little color. Now she had long blonde locks that went to the middle of her back and wore lighter colors missed with darker ones. Like right now she was wearing dark blue jeans and a light grey blouse with a navy beanie sitting on the back of her head. She looked so grown up now.

The three friends retired inside and sat down in the living room together so Scott and Stiles could explain their plan to her. She sat on the couch with her knees in her chest as the two explained to her what the plan was. When they were done, Jess processed everything they said before replying. "So the three of us, plus Kira and Maila, are gonna go down to Mexico where we are just going to waltz into the Calaveras club like it's nothing and demand them to give us Derek." She said.

"Well we are also going to put the full fifty grand that we got from the Silverfinger stash and take away ten grand the longer they withhold Derek from us." Stiles added.

Jess let out a breath. "Sound bulletproof."

"That's sarcasm, isn't it?"

"Whadda you think?"

"I'm gonna go with yes…"

Scott, who was sitting to Jess's right, put a hand on her back. "We are gonna find him, okay. They have to have him. Lydia told us he isn't dead so we know he's alive."

"This is my fault…I should have stayed with him instead of go back to my apartment." Jess let out. "Or get there sooner instead of get held up by Maxton."

"Jess this isn't your fault. It's none of our faults." Stiles reassured her.

"Why didn't I know he was in trouble? I always know when you guys are in trouble."

"Maybe that went away when you died, too."

Jess let out a breath. "Okay when do we go?"

"We have to get the money still and make an alibi that will work for everyone so it will be another day or two." Scott told her. "Do you have a place to stay?"

Jess nodded. "The apartment I lived in last time was rented out to another student so I am renting a loft in midtown. I don't have any furniture yet though."

"Well stay here tonight and worry about the rest tomorrow."

"Thanks Scott."

Stiles left a little later to meet his dad for dinner and Rafe came home around nine with a pizza for him and Scott. When he saw Scott and Jess sitting in the living room together in their pajamas he was surprised. "Hey dad." Scott greeted.

"Hi Scott." The father replied as he set the pizza on the counter. "What's Jess doing here?"

"She is just gonna stay here tonight until she can get furniture for her loft tomorrow."

"Hi Mr. McCall." Jess said. "It's only for one night and then I'll be out of here."

"As long as your mother said it's alright." He warned Scott.

"She did."

"Well then Jess, do you like pepperoni pizza?"

Jess smiled and nodded. "It's my favorite."

Jess was surprised at Rafe's kindness towards her. When he first came into Scott's life, he didn't like her all that much for whatever reason. Probably because he didn't want his seventeen year old son hanging out with a nineteen year old. It wasn't as much the two year age difference as it was that Scott has been getting into all sort of things with Jess and Rafe didn't like it. Jess understood though and was grateful that Rafe was warming up to her.

After eating, Scott and Jess cleaned up before retiring to bed. Scott slept up in his room and Jess crashed on the couch. She slept in one of Derek's shirts that she took from his loft before she left. The scent was starting to wear off, but it was still enough for Jess to smell his scent. She missed him. She missed him so much and all she wanted to do was be with him again. All she could do was hope to God he was alright and whoever took him from was ready for her and the others. She was getting Derek back.

One way or another.

**A/N : And that's chapter one! I hope everyone liked it! As always please review and favorite and follow! Second chapter should be up soon!**


	3. The Search Begins

_You know we can get away_

_Because I'm calling your name_

_Every day I feel this pain_

_But you just turn and walk away_

_(Hanging On-Ellie Goulding)_

**OOOOO**

The first morning that Jess was back, Rafe walked down into the kitchen to find Jess cooking breakfast. She heard him walk in and turned around. "Hi…" she greeted. Rafe was dressed for work in his usual attire, black suit and a white shirt with his FBI ID hanging around his neck. He looked around the kitchen and then at Jess. There was the carton of eggs on the counter by the stove, a cutting board and knife out, and then a bag of cheese and spinach off to the side. Jess slid the egg in the pan in front of her in-between two slices of toast on a plate and walked it over to Rafe. "This is kind of a thank you for letting me stay last night and an apology for it being last minute." She explained. Rafe took the plate form her and looked at the egg sandwich. It looked pretty damn good.

"There's cheese, spinach, green peppers and hot sauce in it." Jess explained.

"I'm allergic to green peppers." Rafe said.

Jess's face fell at the statement and she felt like the biggest inconsiderate idiot. That was until Rafe started to laugh. "I'm kidding." Jess let out a breath of relief and smiled. "I appreciate it. I never have time for breakfast." Rafe told her.

"It's no problem."

Rafe sat down at the table while Jess turned around to the counter. "Is there any c-" Rafe began, but stopped when Jess appeared next to him with a mug of coffee. He took it from her. "Thanks."

Jess returned over to the stove when she heard Scott getting up. She figured she'd make something for him, too. His footsteps became quicker and he soon appeared in the kitchen. "I smell eggs." He said as he took in the sight of the kitchen. He was in nothing put a pair of black sweatpants and his hair was on the messy side. "Are there eggs?"

Jess laughed. "Yeah. Sit down I'll make you some."

Rafe took a bite of his egg sandwich and made a sound of appreciation. "This is delicious." He said. "Where did you learn to cook?"

Jess hesitated for a moment as she mixed the eggs and hot sauce. "My dad cooked and taught me a few things." She answered. Scott looked over at Jess at the mention of her father. Even though she was over both of her parents' deaths, he knew it still pained her to talk about them.

After Rafe was finished, he thanked Jess once more and said goodbye to both her and Scott. Once he was gone, Jess set down Scott's plate in front of him. "I am going to get dressed and then go furniture shopping." She said. "I probably won't need that much."

Scott took a bite of his food before responding. "Not to pry, but where do you get your money from anyway?"

"Well between the money I got from both of my parents' murders, their wills, a trust fund, and all the things I sold from my old house, it added up in the end. Why?"

"Just curious."

Jess cleaned up the kitchen while Scott ate and then got dressed. She dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and a light purple sweater that hung off of her shoulder. Not wanting to fuss with her hair, she pulled her blond locks up into a ponytail and called it good. The last thing she put on after her black wedges was something she wore every day. It was the necklace that once belonged to Derek's mother, Talia that he gave her for her nineteenth birthday. She originally gave it back to him when he left Beacon Hills, but he returned it to her the same day he disappeared.

Once she was dressed, Scott greeted her at the door. "Stiles and I are going to get the money today. We are going to Mexico tomorrow so be here first thing tomorrow." He told her.

"What are all of you telling your parents?"

Scott smiled proudly. "We're going camping."

**OOOOO**

Jess spent the entire day in the furniture store buying everything she needed for her loft. She could have stayed at Derek's place, but in all honesty she couldn't. Physically and emotionally she couldn't handle it. Everything there smelled like him and sleeping alone in his bed would just remind her that he was gone. Plus Scott mentioned last night Peter may have been staying there and seeing him was the last thing Jess wanted to do.

All Jess really needed at her place was a bed, a coffee table and couch, a couple of lamps and side tables, a desk and chair, and things for in the kitchen and bathroom. Plus the loft was small. It was only meant for one person, maybe two people at the most if someone was sleeping on the couch. Unlike Derek's loft which was just two big rooms, in hers there was one bedroom, the living room, one and a half bathrooms, and then the kitchen. The floors were redone with hardwood and the walls were a light grey color. There was enough room for Jess there and the rent was cheap.

Once she had the furniture moved in and set up, she laid down on the couch curled up in a ball. The fact that she was able to come back to Beacon Hills was shocking. Her super intendant, Mrs. Riley, wasn't happy with her when she returned to the campus, but after Jess began to get her school work back on track she cooled down. After Scott called her, Jess approached Mrs. Riley and asked if she could continue with her school work online to go back to Beacon Hills because of a missing her friends. The super intendant agreed, but told Jess if she fell behind at all she was out.

Now Jess was wrapped up in her own thoughts curled up on her new couch. Her mind wandered to the when she returned to Derek's loft and found out he was missing.

_**Flashback**_

_Jess climbed the stairs up to Derek's loft after finally getting away from Maxton. She didn't feel like dealing with that tonight anymore and wanted to curl up in bed with Derek. She had texted him saying she'd be late and would talk to him about it later, but he never responded. It was a red flag to Jess, but she didn't want to worry herself. But when she smelled blood and saw the loft door was open, her heart dropped. The grip she had on her bag faltered and it hit the floor as Jess rushed into the loft. There was a small pool of blood, Derek's blood, on the floor with bullet casing scattered everywhere. _

_ "Derek!" Jess called out, hot tears forming in her eyes as she ran into the other room. It was empty. He had to be here. He couldn't be gone. "Derek!" She ran up the steps to what used to be Isaac's bedroom and once again found nothing. Where was he! He had to be here! He couldn't just disappear! Running back down the steps she called out for him again and again. "Derek!" She cried. Hot tears streamed down her face as she looked around the empty room. A sound of thunder cracked across the sky and it began to pour outside. Jess looked out the window for a moment before taking off down the steps again to her car._

_ Jess sped through the streets, running red lights and breaking several laws as she headed towards Scott's. She wouldn't be able to track Derek alone and needed Scott's help if she wanted to find him. But Derek couldn't have just been gone. He couldn't be. Just this morning Jess woke up in Derek's arms safe as she could be with his heart beat under her ear. Then they talked out the problems they had like they planned to and then spent the better half of the day tangled up in the sheets before Jess left for her apartment. He couldn't be gone. He couldn't be…_

_ When she finally arrived at the McCall house, Jess kept the engine running and sprinted through the rain to the porch. By time she got to the door she was drenched head to toe in rain. Her clothes clung to her skin and her hair stuck to her neck, but she didn't even notice. She walked into the house and called out for Scott as she choked on tears. "Scott!" she called out. Scott appeared at the top of the stairs with Stiles and Melissa appeared out of the kitchen. "Jess what happened?" Scott asked worriedly as he and Stile descended the stairs. Jess began to hyperventilate at the whole situation. Melissa rushed over and put her arms around the young girl as she tried to breathe. Scott and Stiles stood in front of her and no one knew what was wrong or what to do. Scott put his hands on either side of Jess's face so she'd look at him. "Just breathe." He instructed. "When I inhale, you inhale." Jess took in a breath when he did. "Now exhale." Jess let out the breath and they repeated this several times before Jess calmed down. "Now what is it?" Scott asked as he dropped his hands from her face. _

_ "Derek…he's gone." Jess said through tears. "I went back to the loft and…and…"_

_ Jess began to cry again and Melissa held her tighter as she looked at the boys. Jess was absolutely hysterical. "Okay what was at the loft?" Scott asked. "Were there any other scents or anything like that?" Jess shook her head. "I don't know. I smelled Derek's blood and saw all the bullet casings and freaked out."_

_ "Look I am going to go back to the loft, alright? See if I can pick up any scents that we can track with, alright? You wait here and keep calling him."_

_ Jess nodded and told Scott to take her car out front. Melissa led her into the living room with Stiles in tow. The mother went into the kitchen to make some tea and Stiles sat with Jess on the couch. He hesitated at first, but then wrapped an arm around her. She surprised him by turning into him and burying her face in his chest as she began to break down again. Stiles wrapped his other arm around her and leaned back into the couch, holding her in his arms as she continued to sob. Where was Derek?_

_**End of Flashback**_

Jess fell asleep to thoughts of Derek and when she woke up, it was morning. Looking at the time, she realized she would have to be at Scott's in an hour. She took a quick shower and changed into a pair of black skinny jeans, combat boots, and a sleeveless dark purple top with a dark grey hoodie over top. She took a look in the mirror and frowned at her hair. The blonde was completely different from her past hairstyles and she didn't know whether or not she liked it. It didn't matter though. There were more important things to do at the moment.

And the most important thing was getting her boyfriend back.


	4. Hombre Lobo Búsqueda

_A thousand lies have made me colder  
And I don't think I can look at this the same  
But all the miles that separate  
Disappear now when I'm dreaming of your face_

_Here Without You-Three Doors Down_

Jess stood in the dance club off to the side with Scott. People crowded the area and Spanish pop music blared loudly which resulted in Jess getting a headache. Malia was on the dance floor and Kira was sitting on one of the couches while the two werewolves stood together and focused their hearing so they could hear upstairs.

"What makes you think we came alone?" Jess heard Stiles ask Araya.

There was a short pause for a moment before the old Spanish woman replied. "You brought a wolf into my home?"

"Actually…I brought two. One of which would be an alpha."

Jess could see Stiles's proud little smirk and she allowed her eyes to glow their golden color while Scott flashed his red ones. Looking around again, Jess noticed that there were people walking around with walkie talkies now. They had to have been looking for the supernatural creatures in the club. Jess wondered how they could though with all the people dancing, making it almost impossible to move around in the large club. Then Jess noticed that her and Scott were hiding in the shadows, making it obvious to any hunter here with a hunch that they weren't human. She grabbed Scott's arm and pulled him closer to the dance floor.

"What are you doing?" he questioned.

"We look extremely creepy and out of place if we're hiding in the shadows." Jess explained. "So dance with me."

Scott hesitated for a moment before Jess rolled her eyes and slid her arms around his neck so they were closer. Scott put his hands around her to her back and they began to move to the beat of the music. Jess smiled and next thing she knew the two of them looked like they were just like any other two people in the club. Scott had a tight grip on her while she ran her hands through the hair on the back of his head and kept her arms locked around his neck. "Don't you have a boyfriend?" Scott reminded her jokingly.

"Yeah and if we get busted now this trip may have been a waste." Jess replied.

The two wolves looked around and noticed eyes were off of them for right now. Jess noticed a man go into the back room with a walkie talkie and looked at Scott. "Follow me." She said to Scott as she pulled away from him. She led him through the chaotic dance floor to where the man had gone. She motioned for Scott to wait and she pushed back the curtain and slipped inside. The man saw her and began to say something in Spanish, but Jess walked up to him and kicked him into the wall. He hit his head on the stone and collapsed to the ground out cold. Jess smirked to herself as she walked over and picked up the talkie. Scott rushed in as she brought the talkie up to her mouth "Stiles." She said into it. "Take ten off the table."

Scott gave her an assuring nod and then the two walked back out to the crowd where it was clear Araya's men were onto them. Two were approaching Malia and Kira while two more zeroed in on Scott and Jess. "I'll go left you go right?" Jess suggested "And we'll all meet each other at the hall." Scott replied. Both wolves took off in the right directions towards their targets. Jess looked at hers, a younger male with dark hair and a hand reaching for the gun on his belt. Jess ran at him as fast as he could and tackles him onto the floor. She then grabbed him by the front of his jacket and slammed him into the stone wall several times before throwing him across the room. Looking at the door across the way, she saw Scott opening the door with Kira and Malia. She rushed over to them and the four began walking down the hall to find where Stiles and Lydia were.

"They could be in any of these rooms." Jess said.

They followed the halls down for about a minute when smoke began to creep underneath the bottom of a door. Scott motioned for them to stay put to see if it was hazardous when even more came from a vent in the ceiling. It hit Jess first and the sour scent and taste filled Jess's lungs and nose. She fell to her knees clutching her chest and coughing as she tried desperately to get some air. She knew it was wolfs bane right away as she struggled to breathe. Her vision began to blur and when she looked up she saw Araya. "Someone who's been an alpha for a few months should be careful when facing a hunter of forty years." She said to Scott.

Jess saw a sheet of red in front of her eyes while adrenaline coursed through her veins at the sight of the woman who kidnapped her boyfriend and was keeping him locked up somewhere. She let out a growl and struggled to get to her feet to go after the old bat. Before she could even take two steps, someone from behind her hit her with a baton and sent thousands of volts through her body. She seized up and collapsed onto the floor in pain. Araya looked down at her and Jess returned the glare with her yellow eyes fading back into blue. "Did you come for your boyfriend, Mia?" she questioned.

"Give him to us…" Jess growled. "And you'll never see us again.

"All we want is Derek…" Scott forced out.

Araya turned back to him and smiled. "I know Benito. You're a long way from home."

A few moments passes before both Scott and Jess realized it. She didn't have Derek. "You don't know where he is either…" Scott said. Araya's face fell and then she grabbed a baton, hitting Scott with it and sending electricity coursing through his entire body. Scott passes out after a few moments and all too soon the wolfs bane became too much for Jess. She slipped to the floor and entered a world of darkness, wondering two things. If Derek wasn't taken by the Calaveras, who took him? And if he wasn't here, then where the hell was he?

**OOOOO**

When Jess came to, she was greeted by Malia's face an inch from hers. "Guys she's finally awake!" she announced. Jess pushed her back and sat up. "Personal space, Malia, personal space."

Scott came over and helped her to her feet. Jess immediately raised a hand to her head. It felt like her brain had swelled up to the size of a basketball. "You okay?" Scott asked. She nodded as she squeezed her eyes together in disgust. Something reeked of blood. "Is someone bleeding?" she questioned as she opened her eyes. Scott looked at her and shook his head. "I smell it too. I think it was from someone else. Possibly whoever left those on the wall." Scott turned and pointed at the claw marks in the marble stone wall by the door. Jess looked at them for a moment when Malia spoke up.

"I say when that door opens again we take out whoevers standing in the way and run for it."

"What about Lydia?" Kira questioned.

"What about Lydia?" Jess asked when she saw the red head wasn't with them.

"Araya took her."

"Yeah so what about her?" Malia questioned.

"We're not leaving without her." Scott told her.

"Why not?"

Jess and Scott looked at one another. Was she serious? Friends don't leave friends. Stiles walked over to her, scratching the side of his head. "Because we don't leave without people, remember? We talked about this. Rules of the wild kingdom don't apply to friends." Malia looked down at her feet as if she's been reprimanded. Jess understood why Malia was like this. She spent nearly her whole life as a coyote and only knew how to survive as one rather than in a pack.

"Is that what you would do as a coyote? Just leave her for dead?" Kira asked.

"If she was sick and injured yeah. And if hunting was bad that winter I'd eat her. Then I'd leave."

"Believe it or not that's progress." Stiles told the others.

"Okay Malia." Jess said as she brought her hands up in front of her. "You aren't focused on your own survival anymore, okay? We are a pack. We may not be all wolves and kind of a…mixed bunch but do you know what actual wolves do in packs?" Malia shook her head. "When another wolf is sick or injured they stay with them until they're healthy and will bring food to them when they can't hunt on their own anymore. So stop thinking like a coyote who's trying to save her own ass. Think like a werecoyote who is part of a pack."

"Wow that is better than anything I've come up in the past two months…" Stiles said.

Malia looked at Jess and nodded. "Look guys we aren't dead yet." Scott reminded them. That means Araya wants something."

"But if the Calaveras don't know where Derek is, than that means they didn't take him from the loft, right?" Kira suggested.

"Maybe he left on his own." Stiles added.

Jess glared at him and he raised his hands in surrender. "It's a possibility."

"Derek wouldn't just leave me." Jess told the group.

"Well he is unpredictable…" Stiles debated.

"Look he knew I was coming back that night and Scott you saw the blood when you went back… he didn't just take off."

"Maybe someone else got to him." Scott said.

Jess looked at the alpha. "Who else would want to take Derek? And for that matter why?"

"Have you met Derek? I'm sure he found someone to piss off." Stiles said.

Just then the door opened and everyone turned their attention to the group of men parading in. Jess pushed Stiles back as she and Scott held their ground. They were about to fight back, but then the batons came out and electricity was coursing through their body again. Jess has hated these since Kate Argent first introduced them to her way back when. The electricity was coursing through her body, who knows how many volts it was at this point. She could still feel it as she squirmed and growled in pain. "Stop it you're killing her!" she heard someone yell. She didn't know who it was though. Right when she thought it would be over, the pain finally became too much and she fell into unconsciousness again. But right before the pit of blackness consumed her, Derek came into her mind. It looked as if he was asleep, but he wasn't in bed or even in a room for that matter by the looks of it. He was surrounded by cob webs and stone, but he was alive.

Jess woke up to being shaken awake by Stiles. "Jess I need you to wake up!" he said loudly. She opened her eyes and found Stiles's face two inches above hers. "Does no one understand the concept of personal space?" she demanded as she pushed him away so she could sit up. "Look forget that time to answer some folklore trivia." He told her. "Is it possible for a human to be killed and then brought back as a werewolf or were creature or whatever?"

Jess looked at him. "What?"

"According to Scott and Araya…Kate's alive."

Jess widened her eyes. "What do you mean Kate's alive?"

"As in she has a beating heart, a pulse, and is up and moving around."

Jess got to her feet and racked her brain for a logical explanation. Oh who was she kidding? She was a werewolf, her werewolf boyfriend was missing, her best friend is a werewolf who is or isn't dating a kitsune, and the only human in the group used to have a thing for a banshee is now dating a werecoyote. NOTHING HERE IS LOGICAL.

"Okay…uh I guess…"

Before Jess could spit out her explanation…the door opened again. "So help me God if I am electrocuted one more time!" Jess yelled. She was sick of wolfs bane, she was sick of tasors, she was sick of Mexico. All she wanted was her boyfriend back.

"You and you're friends are free to go." The man at the door said.

**OOOOO**

About forty five minutes later, everyone was driving towards the church where Kate was last seen with Braden, the girl who saved Isaac and helped Jess find Derek and Peter a while back, as their guide. Jess was driving by herself in her mustang behind the others in the Jeep with her phone on speaker. Malia called her because she wanted to know who Kate Argent was.

"Alright Kate was the one who set the fire that killed most of Derek's family." Stiles explained.

"Some of them survived like Cora and Peter." Scott added in.

"A very angry Peter who murdered anyone who was connected to the murder and bit and turned Scott and me." Jess interjected.

"He's also the one who finally caught up to Kate and killed her." Lydia continued.

"We saw her buried though." Jess reminded Scott and Stiles. "Remember we were trespassing at the funeral."

"No we saw a casket. She wasn't in it." Scott clarified. "The Calavaras had heard Kate was killed by an alpha's claws and wanted to make sure she really was dead…her body was healing. More and more she got closer to the full moon. She was coming back so they switched out the bodies…they took her."

"If a hunter is bit, they have to take their life before they change. The Calaveras treat their code like law so they get the responsibility to enforce it." Jess went on.

"Good for her. I wouldn't do it either." Malia put in.

"Would you kill half a dozen people to get out?" Scott questioned. "Because she did."

A silence fell among the group as the processed all the information. A new problem with new people, but an old threat. How wonderful.

"So Kate's a werewolf now?" Kira asked.

"I don't know." Scott answered. "There's a saying that the shape you take reflects the person you are."

"Well hopefully it's not another Kanima." Jess breathed out. "But there are a lot of were creatures in the books. Weretigers, werejaguars, werelions…hell I have even heard of weremonkeys."

"What kind of shape is psychopathic bitch?" Lydia questioned.

All of the sudden the Jeep came to a halt and Jess slammed on her breaks to avoid hitting the car. Jess got out of her car and walked up, asking what happened. "I think we hit something." Stiles said as he observed the jeep. "We have to get there by night. It's too dangerous otherwise." Braden told Scott and Jess.

"You two go." Stiles said.

"Not without you." Scott objected.

"Look you need to find Derek. We'll figure something out we always do."

"You guys can fit in the mustang." Jess offered.

"No I am not leaving my jeep here." Stiles said.

"I'll go." Malia volunteered.

"No if Stiles is staying you two should two."

"Why?" Kira questioned.

Jess motioned towards Stiles and Lydia. "Because we are in the middle of the Mexican desert getting closer to Kate and he is a human and she is a banshee and you two are...werecoyote, kitsune look whatever just stay with the two of them."

Jess walked back to her car and turned on the engine again, getting really sick of all the distractions and road bumps from getting her to Derek. Jess pulled around the jeep and watched as Scott and Kira said goodbye before he got on the back of Braden's bike. Then, it was clear roads to the church from there.

By the time Scott, Braden, and Jess got to the church entrance it was already night time and the temperature had dropped significantly. When they approached the door that led inside, Braden loaded a round in the chamber of her shotgun. Scott and Jess looked at her. "If we find Kate in there what are you gonna do with her?" Scott asked.

"Bring her back to the Calaveras." Braden answered as the three began to walk. "It's what thay paid me for."

"What happens after that?"

"Not my problem."

You don't care?"

"Do you? She's a mass murderer."

"You're a mercenary."

"Girls gotta eat."

"If you were paid enough would you kill her?"

"If the money was good, I'd kill you two."

Originally Jess was trying to pick up Derek's scent or heartbeat by ignoring the conversation, but when she heard that she growled. Braden looked at her in surprise. "Just focus on finding Derek." She said, her eyes yellow. She wasn't trying to start something, but right now Derek was the priority.

The three walked into the tombs of the church and Jess and Scott still couldn't pick up a strong enough scent. That's when Jess remembered something Derek said to her back in Eichen House.

_"You need to clear your head…relax."_

_"How do you suppose I do that?" she questioned._

_"Close your eyes." Derek instructed._

_"Do we really have time-"_

_"Close. Your. Eyes."_

_Jess closed her eyes. "Now take a deep breath." She took a deep breath. "And think of something relaxing. Calming. Soothing."_

Jess closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she let her thoughts wander to all the times she spent with Derek. The happy memories of course. The ones that could make her smile on her worst day. She began walking, her eyes still closed and letting her hand slide down the wall to guide her. "Jess?" Scott asked.

"Shut up." Jess said. "Just let me focus."

She thought of his voice, his face, how tight he held her when they hugged. As if by instinct, she found herself guiding the other two down the path that hopefully led them to Derek. When they reached the end of the hall though the sound of low growls filled the empty and cob webbed fill halls. Jess and Scott turned around as the sounds got closer and footsteps became nearer and nearer. Something began charging at them and Braden began firing her gun at who knows what while they backed farther down the hallway.

"That's smart. Waste all your ammo into the ancient ruins that are barely standing." Jess said annoyingly as they backed away.

"Where is it?" Braden asked, ignoring Jess's statement.

"I don't know! I can't see anything!" Scott yelled.

"Get behind me!"

Jess went to, but stopped and looked at Scott. "Scott." She said. He looked at her. "Let them hear your roar."

Scott turned back to look down the dark hallway again and let out the single most loudest, terrifying roar Jess has ever heard. She covered her ears and covered Braden's body with hers as dust and rocks fell from the ceiling because of the vibrations. When it was quiet, Jess stood up straight again. "That…was…awesome!" she said in happy tone, jumping once. "Oh my god Scott that was freakin' perfect!"

"I think I scared it." He replied.

"I think you scared everything." Braden said.

The wall behind the three began to crumble and revealed another room. Jess immediately picked up a scent and ran into the room where she found a stone wall engraving of the werejaguar God. She heard a heartbeat and rushed over to the wall, placing her ear to it. Touching the wall, she knew they found Derek. She looked up at Braden and Scott. "Good thing I'm a werewolf." She said before bringing her arm back and then launching her fist into the stone. It shattered on impact and Jess immediately went to work on pulling stone away. Scott and Braden helped and when the hole was big enough, Braden shined the light inside. Jess widened her eyes at the sight. It was Derek, yes. But it was Derek with a younger face, a lot less muscle, and he was definitely not twenty five anymore. He looked sixteen again.

What happened to him?


	5. Hold On Tight

_So you can doubt  
And you can hate  
But I know  
No matter what it takes  
I'm coming home_

_(Skylar Grey-Coming Home Part II)_

_Jess pulled her shirt over her head and then felt two arms wrap around her waist. She smiled when she felt Derek's lips on the side of her head. "Don't go yet." He whispered, pulling her closer to him and tightening his hold. "I just have to pick up clothes at my place and check on a few things. Then I'll be back." She told him as she turned around in his arms. He smiled and kissed her softly. Jess rested her hands on his shoulders and kissed him back, gently biting his bottom lip to tease him. "I won't be long." She said as they pulled apart. _

"_Wait a second."_

_Derek let go of her and walked over to his bed. Jess watched as he pulled something out from underneath his bed. It was a small pouch and fit in his hand. She looked at it as he walked back over to her, wondering what was inside. He opened it and pulled out the diamond heart necklace he once gave her. "You're still the first girl I've ever loved." Derek began. "At least one I knew for sure loved me back. With Paige I was always so unsure…" Jess smiled and blinked away the tears that were beginning to form in her eyes. "Take it back?" Derek asked. Jess nodded and turned around, moving her hair to the side of her neck. Derek unclamped the necklace and put it around her neck carefully before clamping it closed again. Jess touched the diamond heart where it sat on her chest as she turned around. "I love you." She said. _

"_I love you, too."_

_Jess closed the distance between them and pressed her lips to his again. Derek put his hands on the sides of her face and deepened the kiss, but Jess pulled away all too soon. "I will be back in less than an hour." She told him. "So get dressed. We can go get dinner somewhere when I get back." Derek kissed her once more and then let her go. She turned around and walked up to the loft door, opening it and stepping out. Before she left sight, she looked back at Derek and smiled at him. He smiled back and then she disappeared from sight. _

_It was the last time Jess saw Derek before he was taken. _

**OOOOO**

Scott drove Jess's car back to Beacon Hills while she sat in the back with an unconscious sixteen year old Derek. His head was in her lap and she kept running her fingers through his dark hair. Her eyes were glued to his face as he slept as she wondered how this happened. How did Kate him turn back into a teenager. More importantly why? Jess knew a lot about folklore and mythology, but this was definitely a new one for her. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered whether or not they'd be able to turn him back into an adult. The more Jess thought about it, the more she wanted to break down and cry. Bur there wasn't time for that. They needed to turn Derek back.

It was a long drive back to Beacon Hills, but they finally got back to the animal clinic. It was pouring outside, but no one really noticed. Scott called Deaton on their way back and gave him the brief explanation of what happened. They parked around back and Scott picked up Derek over his shoulder to carry him inside with Jess running behind him closely. Once they were inside, Deaton cleared a table for Scott to lay him down on. When the veterinarian got a good look at Derek, he was at a loss of words.

"Wow." He said.

"Wow? Wow as in you've seen this before and know exactly what to do kind of wow? Because that's the kind of wow we're hoping for." Stiles questioned.

"I think you might be over estimating my abilities."

Jess stood at Derek's head and wiped some of the rain away when Lydia took his hand. "He's cold." The banshee said. "Like really cold."

Deaton began to feel Derek's arms and then pulled out a flashlight to look at his eyes. "Do you think this is permanent?" Jess asked through a choked sob. She was having a hard time holding it together. She looked for so long and now went as far as Mexico to bring him back, but he's a teenager again.

"I don't think a medical diagnosis is even adequate." Deaton explained as he stood up. "This is way beyond my experience."

"So what do we do with him?"

"Until we wakes up? Probably not much. It might be best to leave him with me. He'll be safe here."

"You mean from Kate." Stiles clarified.

"If she's alive and is what you say she is, she won't be able to walk past that gate."

Jess remembered that mountain ash surrounded the place and Deaton only broke it to let her and Scott in or any other supernatural creatures he wanted through. She looked down at Derek's face again and closed her eyes. Why? That's all she wanted to know.

"You guys should probably go home." Deaton said. "He doesn't look to be in any danger so maybe the rest of you should try and get some sleep. It is a school night for the three of you. You need to all start taking care of your own lives again."

"I'm not leaving him." Jess said. "I don't have to be in school tomorrow."

"Jess you've been up for over twenty four hours now." Scott told her. "Go get some rest."

"The last time I left him-"

"I'll stay." Lydia said. "My grades are fine despite missing a few classes."

Stiles began to object, but Scott pulled him towards the back door. Jess didn't move from her spot, though. She kept stroking the skin on the side of his head and looking at his face. "Jess," Deaton said as he looked her direction. "He'll be safe here. Go get some sleep." Jess looked at him and nodded before leaning down and kissing Derek's forehead gently. "I love you." She whispered against his skin. After that, she walked out of the clinic and back to her car.

When she arrived back at her loft, she kicked her shoes off and made her way to her bathroom. She stripped out of her clothes on the way to her shower so by the time she was there, she just had to step in and turn on the hot water. The feeling of the hot water running down on her skin felt good against her sore limbs. Being cramped in a car in a small backseat was uncomfortable and made her limbs scream to be stretched. She ended up sitting down in the tub as the water cascaded down on her. A thousand thoughts were running through her head about Derek. She was scared they wouldn't be able to turn him back. She was scared that Kate would get to him again. She was just scared. As she sat there in the tub, her face was a mixture of tears and water running down her face. She leaned her head on the wall and closed her eyes. Nothing was ever over.

**OOOOO**

Jess called Deaton first thing the next morning and he told her Derek was still out like a light. There wasn't much of a change to him and the vet told her he'd call her if anything did in fact change or he woke up. Not wanting to just sit around the loft waiting for the phone call, Jess decided to go out and pick up some groceries. It was something to get her mind off of things in the meantime since she wasn't going to get her school work assignments for another day or two and the school was still setting up her online student account. So walking down the aisles of the grocery store picking up things like bread and milk were keeping her mind occupied. She thought of things she needed and wanted to get like cereal and eggs. She was in the store for a while before she had everything and then drove back to her loft. Luckily she managed to get all the bags upstairs the first trip.

It took about ten minutes to put all the food away when Jess's phone rang. She ran over to it and saw it was Lydia. "Is he awake?" Jess asked after she picked up.

"Yeah he's awake…" Lydia replied. "But he's gone."

"What do you mean gone?"

"Just get down here."

Jess arrived at the clinic just as Scott and Stiles did. When they walked in, they found Lydia bandaging Deaton's arm. Despite the two layers of gauze wraps, blood still seeped through them. "I don't think he's just younger in body." Deaton said as Lydia finished up her work. "I think he's younger in his mind, too."

Jess's heart dropped. "He didn't recognize either of us." Lydia went on. "And he looked scared out of his mind." If Derek didn't remember Lydia or Deaton, then he wouldn't remember Jess. Her own boyfriend wouldn't know who she was.

"So if you're a teenage werewolf and you're scared, where do you go?" Stiles asked.

"Well wolves go back to their den, but Derek has a loft." Scott pointed out.

"No he's a teenager."

It took a moment, but then it hit Jess. "The Hale house." She said. "But he wouldn't remember the fire. It wouldn't have happened yet."

About a half an hour later Scott, Stiles, and Jess were at the police station in hope to get help from Stiles's dad in finding Derek. But the second they stepped into the station, Jess and Scott smelled Derek. The teenager ran back to where the booking office was and found Sheriff Stillinski looking between Derek, who was sitting on a bench, and the computer screen. He looked up and saw the three that have become known for being the source of trouble and mischief. He was surprised to see Jess and she gave him an innocent smile.

"I'll handle this." Stillinski told Deputy Parish.

Stillinski pulled Jess, Scott, and Stiles into his office and leaned against his desk. "I want you to be honest with me." The Sheriff said. Jess looked at him from where she stood in the room. "Absolutely and completely honest."

"Deal." Jess replied.

"Have you been time traveling?"

Jess opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out at the out of ordinary accusation. Actually just the accusation part because the man was in a room with two werewolves which made this out of ordinary already.

"Because if time traveling is real, you know what I'm done. I'm out. You're gonna be driving me to Eichen House."

"We found him like that." Scott explained.

"Where? Swimming in the fountain of youth?"

"No." Stiles said. "We found him buried in a tomb of wolfs bane in an Aztec temple in Mexico underneath a church in the middle of a town that was destroyed by an earthquake…"

"You told me you were camping."

"And you believed him?" Jess questioned.

The sheriff looked at her. "When did you get here?" he asked, his frustration growing more and more. Jess knew the sheriff liked her since they've met, but right now he was frustrated and confused about everything. "Two days ago…" Jess answered as she scratched the back of her head. The sheriff had an internal struggle with himself before Scott spoke up. "Derek's been aged backwards. He can't remember anything."

"Which is why we have to talk to him." Jess told the sheriff.

"Yeah well he's not talking to anyone." Stillinski replied.

"He'll talk to us."

The sheriff brought Derek in and then left the room. Derek sat on the couch and Scott and Jess stood in front of him while Stiles sat on the desk. "Why would I go anywhere with you?" Derek asked.

"There was an accident." Jess explained. "You lost some of your memory, but we can help get it back."

"How much memory?"

"A lot, but you can trust us."

Scott kneeled down in front of Derek and flashed his red eyes. "You're an alpha." Derek said. "Okay who are you? And who's she? And who's him? Who are you?"

"We're the ones keeping you out of jail." Stiles told Derek.

"Let us help you, Derek." Jess said. "Okay we can help you."

Derek shook his head. "No."

"Please Derek."

Derek gave Jess a long look. The fact that he wasn't hurt and physically unharmed made her happy. He might still be a teenager and not know who she was, but he was alright. "You want me to trust you?" Derek questioned, looking at Scott. "Then where's my family?"

Jess looked at Scott as he struggled to find the right words. "There was a fire…" he began, but took a long pause. "They aren't here, but they're fine. They just had to leave Beacon Hills and we're gonna take you back to them as soon as we figure out how to get your memories back." Derek looked back at Jess who looked back at him. There were tears in his eyes and he looked so upset. "Okay." He eventually said.

Derek went to go fill out some paperwork while Jess, Scott, and Stiles waited for him. Jess watched Derek from where she stood and frowned. Even though they at least had him where they wanted, he still didn't remember them and was still a teenager.

"Stiles you take him to my house and don't let him out of your sight." Scott told Stiles. Jess looked at the boys.

"Where are you two gonna go?" Stiles asked.

"I'm gonna go talk to the guy we should have went to before."

Jess let out a sound of unappreciation. "Not him…" she groaned. "Yes him now let's go." Scott said.

"I'm gonna say something to Derek first."

Scott nodded and walked out to the car while Jess waited for Derek to finish up with the deputy. After he finished the paperwork, Derek came walking over. Jess stood up straight as he approached her and noticed his eyes wandered down to where her necklace rested. His facial expression changed and he looked at Jess. "That's my mother's necklace!" he said angrily. "Why do you have it?" Jess looked down at the necklace and let out a shaky breath. Stiles looked at her as she struggled to find an explanation.

"I bought it at a yard sale." Jess lied.

"No that's the necklace my father gave my mother I know it is. He had it custom made."

"Here have it."

Jess reached behind her neck and unclamped the chain. She took it off and held it out to him. He grabbed it from her hand and looked at it as Jess held back the tears. She didn't know how much longer she'd be able to hold herself together. "This was supposed to go to Paige…" Derek whispered. "She's the girl I loved."

"You're gonna go with Stiles…" Jess forced out as she struggled not to cry. "Scott and I have to go do something."

Stiles went to put a hand on Jess's shoulder, but she turned around to walk away. "Keep him at the house." Was all she said as she left the station.

**OOOOO**

Scott and Jess were joined at the loft by Malia. Scott knew something was wrong with Jess on the drive over and that it was something to do with Derek. "Are you alright?" he asked as they walked up the steps. "My boyfriend doesn't know who I am and the last time I was in this loft was to find him taken with only a pool of blood to remember him by." She replied. "And then there's everything else on top of that, too."

Scott opened the door and they stepped inside, Jess hesitating for a moment before joining them. The loft looked the same as it always has, almost empty and looking abandoned. "What is wrong with you?" Malia asked Scott.

"Nothing why?" he replied.

"Because your heart is pounding like crazy."

"That's because he's bad at introductions." Another voice said. The three turned to see Peter reading a book on the couch. "Hey Peter." Jess greeted through a breath. He looked their direction and smiled. "Good to see you again Jess. And yet again you greet me with another new hairstyle." Peter replied.

"This is Malia." Scott said. Peter stood up and walked closer to them. "Beautiful eyes." He complimented the werecoyote. "Did you get them from your father?"

"Mother." Malia replied.

Peter took a long look at her before speaking again. "Anyway I'm sure they told you a lot about me."

"The homicidal killing spree came up."

"We're all works in progress."

"Well when you progress to your next killing spree, make sure all your victims stay dead."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"What do you know about people being turned by oh I don't know a scratch?" Jess questioned.

Peter turned towards Scott. "Did you scratch someone Scott?" Scott shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Claws have to go pretty deep."

Peter began walking over towards the window and Jess followed him. "But it's possible." She said. "Like if you clawed out someone's throat?"

"Well yeah it's possible but it's also beyond rare." Peter told the three. "I mean we're talking one in a…" Peter stopped for a second when it finally hit him. His voice got lower as he said his next word. "…million."

"And who is that one in a million who had the luxury of having their throat ripped out by you?" Jess further questioned as she leaned against the one pole.

Peter turned around and leaned against the desk. "Can someone in this town stay dead?" he snapped.

"I think they were hoping you would." Malia pointed out.

"She's not wrong." Jess admitted.

"Do you have any idea why Kate would turn Derek back into a teenager again?" Scott asked.

"What color were his eyes?" Peter retorted.

"Blue."

"So after Paige. Which meant the time around when he first met Kate."

"Derek and Kate knew each other?"

Jess closed her eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. She was the only one Derek ever told about his relationship with Kate. "Biblically…" Peter began. "That's right Scott. You weren't the first wolf to climb into a hunter's bed."

"Why do you think Derek was so pissed about you and Allison being together aside from her being a hunter and you being a wolf?" Jess added.

"Okay Derek went to the sight of the house thinking it was still there, right?" Peter questioned.

"Yeah, but he doesn't remember the fire." Scott explained.

"But if he doesn't remember the fire, then he doesn't remember that it was Kate who set it."

"So what does that mean?" Malia asked

"Kate didn't just take him back to being a teenager. She took him back to the age where he still knew her. When he still trusted her."

"If Derek still trusts her then Kate did that for a reason. She'll go after him." Jess concluded.

Scott quickly pulled out his phone and called Stiles to make sure Derek was still with him and there was no sighting of Kate. Jess watched as Scott talked to Stiles and then his face dropped. Jess knew what that mean. Derek was gone with Kate already.

"She has him." Scott said as he hung up.

Jess, Peter, and Malia all ran for the door but Scott stopped them. "If we wanna get ahead of her we need to figure out where she's going."

"Not to underestimate my own congrative facilities but we're not exactly brain trusted geniuses here." Peter replied.

"Then maybe we should call one."

Scott called Lydia and found out that Kate ripped a gas station worker apart. "Why would she kill a gas station tenant?" Malia asked.

"I don't think she could have helped it. This was a frenzy not a murder it's a symptom." Peter said.

"Of what?" Jess asked.

"She can't control the shift."

"Derek said he had the same issue on the full moon…that he was still learning." Scott informed Peter."

"Then that means Kate is still learning." Jess went on. "So she wants Derek's help?"

"No…she wants the triskellion." Peter concluded.

The group of four sped over to the high school, Malia with Scott on her bike and Peter in the passenger seat of Jess's car. "Oh and for the record." Jess said. "It's not a terrible thing that you resurrected yourself."

"What makes you say that?" Peter asked.

"Well being that you didn't come back as the homicidal maniac and actually helped us with Jackson and everything after that…you aren't that bad of a guy."

"Glad to see you're warming up to me."

"Don't ruin it."

They pulled up to the high school and ran up the steps when a familiar scent caught Scott and Malia's attention. "It's the same one from Mexico." Malia said. Jess looked around and inhaled the strong scent. It was the same one from the tunnels. "It couldn't have followed us here could it?" Malia added.

"No but it could have been brought here by Kate." Scott replied.

Just then a loud, but low growl rumbled through the air. "Oh I've heard that sound before." Peter said. "Did it have an animal skull? A human wearing a skull over its face?"

"I think so." Malia answered.

"What are they?" Scott questioned.

Both Peter and Jess looked up at the tunnel where Jess once died to see a large creature standing there growling at them. "Is that a-" Jess began.

"Bezerkars." Peter said.

Malia let out a growl and went to go after it, but Peter grabbed her. "Are you crazy?"

"It's just one of them." Malia replied.

"That means we have a chance."

"To beat them?"

"To survive."

Peter took off up the stairs and Jess, Malia, and Scott all followed with the Bezerker chasing after them close behind. They ran through the outdoor hallways and into the outside eating area when another one came into their path. "You guys run." Jess said. "I'll hold this one off."

Before either of them could object, Jess took off towards the Bezerker. She swiped her claws against the bone body armor on its chest and ribs, but it had no effect. The Bezerker tried to swing at her, but she managed to duck out of the way only to have the creature's heavy arm come down on her back. It caused Jess to fall on her stomach and then the Bezerker kicked her over. It went to bring down a knife on her, but she rolled out of the way just in time. She got to her feet and The Bezerker approached her, hitting her across the head with its heavy hand. Once again she fell to the cement and then was picked up by her back and thrown into the wall.

Jess was down for a few moments before finding the strength to get up. When she finally did, she saw the Bezerker was going up the stairs. She got to her feet and rushed towards the stairs, reaching the top quickly just as Scott was thrown over next to Malia. A loud growl escaped her throat and she ran at the Bezerkers again, only to get thrown into the lockers. She hit her head on the metal and felt a warm wetness running down the back of her neck. Reaching behind her neck, she felt a large cut at the base of her head. When she brought her hand back in front of her, it was coated with her blood

Kira suddenly appeared and held the Bezerkers off for a few moments before joining Scott and Malia on the floor. One of the Bezerkers turned towards Jess as she tried to sit up and pulled out a large tooth that looked like it belonged to a lion or tiger. The creature approached her and Jess began to breathe deeply, fearing that this was it for her…again…but suddenly someone pushed it out of the way of her. Looking up, Jess saw it was Derek and he was now fighting both Bezerkers on his own. Jess watched as Deek moved and fought effortlessly like it was a choreographed routine. He flipped, kicked, punched, hell he was winning. It impressed Jess actually that a sixteen year old beta was this strong. Then again being born a wolf had to have helped in that category.

Eventually a loud roar echoed through the air and the Bezerkers took off down the hall. Jess looked at the creatures as they ran and then at Derek. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him. He was taller and more filled out like before. He stood stronger and his scent was the one he carried around when he was of normal age. "Derek?" Scott said as he, Kira, and Malia stood up. Slowly, Derek turned around to face them and Jess felt like crying in happiness when she saw he was back to normal. Suddenly though, his eyes flashed a golden color. Derek's eyes were no longer the electric blue that signaled a werewolf had taken an innocent person's life…they were pure gold…the eyes of an innocent werewolf.

Derek saw Jess off to the side by the lockers and felt tears form in his eyes at the sight of her. She managed to get herself to her feet as Derek ran over to her and the second he was close enough, he pulled her into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, afraid that if he let go she would disappear. Jess clung onto him just as tightly for the same reason, afraid he would disappear again. Derek took in a deep breath, inhaling her vanilla scent. He felt the blood on the back of her neck, but at the moment he didn't even think of asking about it because she was back in his arms. Jess started to let the tears stream out like a river, burying her face in Derek's shirt and breathing in his pine scent that was masked with the scents from the Mexican tombs. She didn't care though… she had him back.

"You're okay." Jess finally managed to get out as she pulled away enough to look at him.

Derek brought his hands to her face and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I'm okay." He told her. Jess squeezed her lips together as more tears came to her eyes. Derek pulled her back into his arms and held her close. The last time she cried this hard was when she was fighting with her mom before she died. Seeing her like this broke his heart and all he wanted to do was hold her tight and never let go.

He never wanted to let go of her again.

**A/N: Teen Wolf Monday equals update time! I have up to chapter nine written so I will hopefully updating again soon. But I better see some reviews! These chapters have taken me a LONG time to write and want to hear what you guys think!**


	6. You and Only You

_It's just another night and I'm staring at the moon  
I saw a shooting star and thought of you  
I sang a lullaby by the waterside and knew  
If you were here, I'd sing to you_

_(Ed Sheeran- All the Stars)_

Derek stood in the shower as the water cascaded down onto his sore body. The hot water felt absolutely amazing on his dirty skin and aching muscles. He ran his fingers through his hair and over his face when he smelled something. It was a chemo signal. Jess's chemo signal. Taking in a breath, he knew the last time she was in the shower she was sad. More than sad, actually. The scent of fear was mixed in with it and it made Derek finish up quickly so he could get back out to his girlfriend.

He toweled off and then walked out to Jess's bedroom where she laid out clothes for him. They were his own clothes that she already had. He smiled at the fact that she had his clothes, but as he pulled on the clean shirt he smelled her scent mixed in with his own. She must have slept in them pretty often for their scents to be mixed in as much as they were. Pulling on his boxers and sweatpants, he walked back out to the living room that was right next to the kitchen. Jess was making tea and had the kettle on the stove, but Derek noticed her slow heart beat and how she was leaning against the counter. "Jess?" he said quietly. She sat up and turned around him. A smile formed on her face at the sight of him. "Hey…" she greeted.

Derek walked over to her and noticed for the first time how tired she looked. Her eyes were baggy and looked like she was struggling to keep them open. "Feel better?" she asked. He nodded. The kettle began to scream and Jess took it off of the stove and poured it into her mug. "Do you want anything?" Derek shook her head. "Are you sure? I went grocery shopping and have a few things-"

"Jess I'm fine."

"Nothing about this is fine! You were just turned back from your teenage self to you adult self, Kate is alive as a werejaguar, and as of tonight you are the victim of a one hundred and seventeen million dollar heist."

"Why don't you go to bed? You look exhausted."

"I have to talk to you first."

"It can wait until tomorrow, Jess."

"No it can't."

Jess led Derek over to the couch and sat down, setting her tea on the table. Derek sat on the end and pulled Jess into his lap. He didn't realize until now how much thinner she was until he wrapped his arms around her. She leaned back against the arms as she played with the bottom of her shirt. "When you first disappeared…" she began, avoiding his eyes. "I tried looking for you. I looked everywhere but I couldn't pick up you scent and every trail I followed went cold. I searched for two weeks straight with barely any sleep, but then…" Jess choked on her words and Derek held her tighter. "Jess it's okay. The fact that you looked to begin with is enough."

"I would've kept looking, but I started to fall behind in school and they threatened to kick me out if I didn't pull myself together. I had to go back to the campus to take tests and turn in assignments that took me a month to do and after that we still didn't know where you were. I only got back here a few days ago."

Derek wiped the tears that fell from her eyes and looked at her with sad eyes. She couldn't stand it when he looked at her like that. It made him look broken and it made her heart break. "It's my fault…" she said. "I got held up at my apartment and wasn't back in time-"

"Hey." Derek cut her off. "This isn't your fault. None of this is your fault. It's no one's fault but Kate's, alright? She did this."

"If I would have been back sooner."

"It wouldn't have made a difference. Kate still would have gotten to me somehow."

Jess leaned over and wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. He hugged her back and breathed in her scent. "I love you." She whispered. "I love you, too." He replied. They stayed liked that for a few moments before Jess finally pulled back. "There's one more thing." She told him. Derek tucked some of her blonde hair behind her ear. "What is it?"

"The reason I got held up was because someone stopped by my apartment."

"Who?"

"My brother."

Derek fell silent and furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

Jess explained the whole story with Maxton and how he suddenly appeared in her life. Derek was completely surprised at the news and asked where he was. "He lives upstate…I haven't really talked to him since."

"Do you want to?"

"I don't know…he looks just like my dad."

The thought of her dad made Jess fall silent again. She was missing him a lot lately and there seemed to be reminders of him everywhere. In the books she read, in restaurants around town he and her ate at, and so on. She wanted nothing more than to see her father alive again. She missed her mother too, but she and her dad were always closer.

Derek let out a breath. "Look it's been a long night. Why don't we just go to bed and worry about the rest tomorrow."

Jess rubbed her eyes. "Okay."

She stood up and took her mug of tea from the table, drinking half of it as she walked over to the kitchen before pouring the rest down the sink. She walked to her bedroom where Derek was pulling down the sheets on her bed and wow did it look comfortable. Jess slipped her shirt off and tossed it on the floor before rummaging through her drawer for one to sleep in. Once she found one suitable for sleep, she slipped out of her jeans and pulled the shirt over her head. It went to the middle of her thighs and two sizes too big so it was just absolutely comfortable.

Jess crawled into the sheets as Derek did and the bed felt like a piece of heaven to Derek. The mattress was new and felt like a cloud, the blankets were warm, and the pillows were soft. As soon as he was under the covers, he pulled Jess into his arms. She reached wherever she could grasp him and took a sharp intake of breath when she felt bare skin. She didn't see him take his shirt off.

Derek held her close to him and kissed her head. "Derek?"

"Yeah?"

"I missed you."

Jess looked up at him and he looked back at her. "I really thought I lost you for good." She told him. Not even thinking about it, Derek pulled her closer to him so her face was nearer and pressed his lips to hers. It was the first time they'd kiss since he disappeared. Jess kissed him back desperately and savored the feeling. Nothing else would happen tonight, but neither of them cared. For tonight, it was enough.

After separating, Jess was finally able to get a good night's sleep now that she knew Derek was safe. But before she fell into her deep sleep, she heard Derek whisper,

"You'll never lose me."

**OOOOO**

Derek woke up the next day to knocking on the front door. He opened his eyes to a dimly lit room and felt a weight on his chest. Looking down he saw Jess was still fast asleep by his side with her head on his bare chest and arm draped across his stomach. He brushed some of her hair out of the way, but then the knocking sounded again. Very carefully he slid out from underneath Jess and she barely moved. She was always a heavy sleeper, even if she had enhanced werewolf features. Derek could see the sun was up, but the shades were keeping the brightness from entering the room. He also saw that him and Jess had been asleep for twelve hours. It was a little after twelve o'clock.

Running a hand through his hair, he walked out of the bedroom and to the front door. "Who is it?" he asked. "I'm looking for Jessica." The voice on the other replied.

"That isn't what I asked you."

"It's Maxton. Her, uh, brother."

Looking at the door, Derek unlocked it and opened it to find the Maxton he only learned about last night standing there. Jess was right about him looking like her dad. He had the black hair, the blue eyes, and even wore a pair of glasses similar to his birth father's. He was dressed in a light blue shirt that was tucked into khaki pants where he had his hands tucked in its pockets.

"How do you know she lives here?" Derek questioned. Jess only got to Beacon Hills a few days prior and wasn't living in the same place as before which made him wonder how Maxton knew of her new location.

"It's a small town. I asked some guy at the police station where she was when I found her apartment empty." Maxton explained.

Derek looked at the guy up and down. "Well she's asleep right now."

"It's past noon."

"It was a long night."

Maxton didn't know what to say being that a man he didn't know was standing in front of him without a shirt on and in his sister's apartment. It may have been a sister he only met two months ago, but she never mentioned a boyfriend. "Well could you tell her I stopped by? I'd like to see her and talk about things."

"What kind of things?"

"Personal things. Things I wouldn't like to discuss with a stranger."

"I'm not a stranger. I'm Jessica's boyfriend."

"Well I'd still prefer to talk to Jessica alone about this matter."

Derek crossed his arms. If it wasn't for his protectiveness over Jess, he would understand where Maxton was coming from. But Derek's been in Jess's life longer than him and he refused to let someone walk in and ask to be alone with her. Siblings or not, Derek was going to be cautious of this guy. Maxton looked harmless being that he only stood at about five eight and looked as if he was the kind of guy who spent his teenage years at home rather than out at parties or social events. "I'll tell her you stopped by." Derek told him, going to close the door.

"What did you say you're name was?" Maxton quickly asked.

"I didn't."

Derek closed the door and locked it, listening to Maxton stand on the other side for a moment before walking back down to his car. After he was gone, Derek decided to make coffee for him and Jess. He got as far as filling the pot halfway up with water when he heard Jess scurry out of bed and out to the kitchen. She all but slid across the hardwood into the room with a worried expression on her face until she saw Derek. "Jesus don't scare me like that." She said, her face now showing relief.

"I'm making coffee?" Derek replied.

Jess ran a hand through her tangled hair and let out a breath. "You weren't there when I woke up…I thought…" she didn't finish her sentence because she hid her face in her hands from embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I just…" Derek walked over to her and moved her hands away from her face. "It's okay." He told her. "I would've been there, but your brother stopped by."

"Maxton?"

"Yeah?"

"What did he want?"

"To talk to you about things. Personal things."

Jess sighed when more knocking sounded. "How does everyone know I moved?" she asked rhetorically as she walked over to the door opened it to find Peter there. "I know your scent." He said in greeting, answering her question.

"What do you want?" Jess asked.

Peter walked past her and over to Derek. "Sure come in." Jess muttered as she closed the door and turned around. "What are you doing?" Peter asked Derek. "I mean it's great you're back and you got to catch up with you're pretty little Jess, but Kate is out there and we have to find her."

Derek looked at Jess and then back at Peter. He wanted to know what Kate did to make his eyes switch back to gold from blue, but he just got back to Jess after being in a Mexican tomb for two months. "You aren't really going to go out looking for her _now_, are you?" Jess questioned as she stepped closer to him. "You just got back last night." Derek let out a breath as he looked at Peter who knew he wanted to find Kate. Jess let out a sound of disgust before walking back to her bedroom. Derek followed her as Peter sat down on the couch to wait for his nephew.

"Jess, wait." Derek called after her as he walked into the bedroom. Jess was opening the shades in the room, allowing the afternoon sun to stream in.

"For what, Derek?" Jess demanded, her tone already dripping with anger. "You literally just got back last night and you wanna run off looking for you psychotic, werejaguar, ex-girlfriend?"

"I wanna know how she knew about the vault. And if she had anything to do with my family's money being stolen."

"No you wanna know about what happened to your eyes."

"Yes I do, is that so bad? Unless you know something about it."

"Look if you wanna find her then go. Go find Kate." She ignored his last statement and walked over to the bathroom, wanting to take a shower. "But two months, Derek. Two months I barely slept because I didn't know where you were. I didn't know if you were dead, dying, hurt, or what."

Jess slammed the bathroom door and it made Derek jump slightly. When he heard the lock click, he walked over to the door and put his hand on it. "I love you." He said. A few moments passed by before the door opened again. He dropped his hand and looked at Jess. Before he could say anything, she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his cheek. "I love you, too." She told him before closing the door again.

**A/N: I said there would be tension. I wasn't lying! **


	7. Plot Twist

_A drop in the ocean  
A change in the weather  
I was praying that you and me might end up together  
It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert  
But I'm holding you closer than most 'cause you are my heaven_

_(Drop in the Ocean-Ron Pope)_

Jess decided to meet up with Maxton since he was in Beacon Hills. She knew that avoiding him wouldn't be the kindest thing to do since he has put in effort to bring them together. Had he never come down, she probably never would have known he existed. It was her turn to make the effort and talk to him. He said he wanted to talk, so she'd talk. How bad could it be? They made an arrangement to meet up at the coffee shop rather than at the other person's place. Jess wanted to be in a public setting rather than a private one. It would make her more comfortable and if she was getting together with Maxton, she needed all the comfort she could get.

Since she had already showered and dressed by the time she called, Jess got to the coffee shop first. She ordered her usual order which was an iced mocha latte and low fat chocolate chip muffin. She sat at the window and thought about what Maxton wanted to talk about. It was probably about being in each other's life more now that they knew about the other person. Jess pictured having a brother in her life. It was odd to think of having a family member in her life that was immediately related to her by blood. The only family she ever knew before were her parents since they were both only children who didn't have much of a relationship with their parents. Now suddenly she had a brother.

Maxton arrived about ten minutes after Jess did and he smiled at the sight of her. "Hi Jessica." He greeted as he sat down across from her. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." She replied. "And you?"

"I've been glad. Thank you for meeting me. I like your hair by the way."

Jess tucked her blonde hair behind her ear. "Thanks. So what is it you want to talk about? Derek told me you wanted to get together."

"Derek would be the man I encountered earlier, right?"

Jess couldn't help but chuckle. Derek must have been unpleasant. "Yes. I'm sorry if he was rude. He just got back from a trip and I hadn't told him about you until last night…he's a little protective."

Maxton nodded. "I see. Well anyway I wanted you to know that my bride to be and I decided to have the wedding here in Beacon Hills."

Jess was surprised at the news. "Really? Why?"

"Well Emily's family was originally from Beacon Hills and thought it would be nice if the wedding was where her old home was which I'm completely fine with."

"Well that's great."

"The wedding is being planned bit by bit, but I was wondering if you'd like to attend."

"Really?"

"Of course. I wasn't lying said I wanted you to be in my life Jessica and I'd love for you to be at the wedding."

Jess smiled and thought about it. Maxton really did want her in his life and it made her feel happy. "I'd love to go, Maxton." She told him. "Could Derek go, too?"

"Absolutely." Maxton said with a smile. "It's going to be a small wedding…just me, Emily, her parents, her brother, my parents, and a few close friends. And of course now you and Derek."

Jess took a long sip from her coffee before responding. "You said Emily was originally from Beacon Hills?" she asked after she set her cup down and grabbing her muffin. "What's her last name? Maybe I knew her before or my parents did."

"Well Emily is my age, but her brother is only a year older than you." Max told her as she took a bite of her muffin. "There family only moved two or three years ago so you may remember him. Do you recall a boy named Colin Sanders?"

The name made Jess all but choke on her muffin. She began coughing and Maxton was immediately concerned. "Are you alright?" he asked as he waved a waitress down for some water.

"I'm fine." Jess coughed as she collected herself. "But you're engaged to Emily _Sanders_?"

"Yeah, why? Do you know her?"

"Do they know that I'm your sister? Did you tell them about me?"

"I just told them I have a sister in Beacon Hills who I never knew about. I didn't give them your name or anything because I wanted to do this on my own. But do you know Emily?"

Jess looked at Maxton. "Yeah I did. But only because I knew Colin…he and I were a couple for over a year before he and his family moved to Washington."

**OOOOO**

After talking to Maxton for a while, Jess returned to her loft for the day. She and Maxton talked a little while about her previous relationship with Colin as well as more about the wedding before he had to go. He said he would be coming back to Beacon Hills again with Emily to discuss wedding plans and that she should prepare to see Colin since he had an upcoming break from school and might come down with Emily. Jess was still reeling over the news that she would soon be the sister in law of her ex-boyfriend. The ex-boyfriend that broke her heart two years ago.

When she got back to her loft, Jess dug out an old photo album from one of the boxes she had yet to unpack. She flipped to the back where there were still a few photos of her and Colin. There were pictures of them at areas around Beacon Hills and at the beach the summer they went together. She smiled at the old memories as she sat on her bed thinking back to her relationship with him. It's hard to believe that they once talked about marrying each other and then he ended things so quickly.

The front door opening caught Jess's attention. She forgot to lock it when she got back. "Jess?" a familiar voice called out. It was Derek. "In here." Jess replied as she closed the photo album and put it back in the box. Derek appeared in the doorway and smiled when he saw Jess. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "I thought you and Peter were looking for Kate."

"We are. We both agreed to look during the day rather than stay out all night too. We both are pretty sure she isn't going to leave Beacon Hills or Beacon County for that matter." Derek explained as he walked in. "You were right. I shouldn't disappear again after just getting back, but I need to find Kate alright?"

Jess nodded and Derek sat down next to her. "Are you okay?" he asked. Jess shrugged. "I met with Maxton today." She explained. "And he's engaged to Emily Sanders… who is the older sister of Colin Sanders… who was the boyfriend I told you about before Kate took you." Jess looked at Derek who had a surprised expression on his face. "Maxton also said he might be coming down here."

"Why?" Derek asked immediately.

"Emily and Maxton are getting married here, in Beacon Hills."

A silence fell between the couple until Derek noticed Jess's expression. She was looking at the floor and a small smile appeared on her face as if she was thinking about something. He knew she was thinking of Colin. "Do you still love him?" the question was out before Derek could stop the words from coming out of his mouth. Jess instantly looked at him. "What?" she said.

"Do you?" Derek asked again.

Jess let out a breath. "It's kind of like how you love me." She explained. "I know you love me, you show me that every day, but there's always going to be that part of you that loves Paige which I have no problem with. She was the first girl you ever loved just like Colin was the first guy I ever loved. There is always going to be a part of me that loves Colin, but I love you now and I know I have or never will love someone as much as I love you right now."

Derek smiled at Jess's statement and immediately kissed her. She was surprised at the sudden kiss, but quickly kissed him back and put her hands around his neck. He slid his arms around her and gently pushed her down on the mattress. Jess smiled as she gently bit Derek's lip and ran her hands through his black hair. He kissed from her lips, to her jaw, neck, and collarbone. Jess sat up and put her hands on the sides of Derek's face as she kissed him again. She reached down to the hem of his shirt and began to pull it up, him raising his arms in assistance. Jess pulled away to get the piece of clothing off and tossed it to the side as Derek's hands slid underneath Jess's blouse. She chuckled at his hands on her skin, the feeling tickling her. He lifted the shirt over her head and wrapped his arms around her as her hands ran across his back. She pulled him back down on top of her and kissed him heatedly, wanting to show him how much she loved him.

**A/N: So…. Plot Twist? **

**Please Review!**


	8. Author Note

**Hello my readers. Unfortunately this is not an update. This is me informing you that school has become a bit overwhelming lately and I am really trying to focus on my studies and extra curriculars this year which leads to slow updating on my part. I am NOT discontinuing this story, I would never, but the updates will become more spaced out and infrequent. My apologies, but school is my number one focus right now. I hope everyone understands. I will do my absolute best to update as soon as I am able to but I also have news**

**I am writing my own, original book! It is really exciting and I am planning it out right now so I also wrapped up in that a bit. Again, I would never abandon my fan fictions, not in a million years, but the updates will become slower. For a while at least. **

**I hop everyone understands!**

**Backstroker98**


	9. You're Hired

_How fast we burn?  
How fast we cry?  
Simple we live  
Simple we die  
(M83-Teen Angst)  
_

Derek and Peter searched for a week straight for Kate but came up empty handed every time. They didn't have any leads or any clue where she had gone. Realizing that they weren't going to find her just the two of them, they decided to offer the search to someone who had the training, skills, and knowledge of how to find a psychotic werejaguar. Braeden. If anyone could find Kate, it was her. Jess made it clear that she wasn't going to help look not because she didn't want to, but because she had school work she had to stay on top of. There was nothing more Jess wanted than to see Kate dead in a ditch, but she was in all advanced classes and focused more on her future at the moment.

The last day Peter and Derek looked for Kate, Derek got back to Jess's loft late at night. It was after midnight and he knew Jess was most likely asleep already. When he got to the front door, he used the second key Jess gave him to open it and very quietly he opened the door. He stepped in and shut the door behind him, locking it immediately. Turning around, he saw Jess was sound asleep on the couch with her laptop opened on the table with textbooks surrounding it. Pencils and highlighters were scattered on the table as well with some on the floor that had rolled off. Jess was lying down on the couch with her head in the pages of an English textbook and hair strayed all over the place. The sight made Derek sigh. He knew Jess was working furiously in school since she had to juggle around all her classes to get her work done. Ever since the school set everything up for her online and sent her her books, she's been working on everything from sunrise to sunset.

As quietly as he could, Derek walked over to the couch and picked Jess up in his arms. He cradled her close to his chest as he carried her back to her bedroom where he laid her down and pulled the blankets over her. He kissed her head softly before returning out to the living room to clean up the area a little. He closed up all her books and put them in neat stacks on the table, picked up all the writing utensils and put them back in the cup she had out for them, and shut her laptop down after making sure all the work she had open was saved. Once everything was cleaned up, Derek slipped back into the bedroom and changed into a pair of sweatpants before climbing in next to his girlfriend. He slid his arms around her and kissed her hair before closing his eyes.

**OOOOO**

The next morning, Jess was up before Derek like always to work on school work. She was sitting on the couch drinking coffee and reading one of the books she had to read and then write an essay on. It was a Stephan King book, The Body, and she had to write an essay on how life lessons and virtues can be taught and learned regardless of age. Jess wasn't a huge fan of Stephan King, but it was a thousand times better then Charles Dickens who could just never get to the point.

Derek came shuffling out around nine with his hair messy and sweatpants hanging low on his waist. Jess looked at him for a moment and smiled as he came walking over. "Good morning." She said as she turned the page of her book. He rubbed the sleep from him eyes. "How are you such a morning person?" he asked.

"Because I have things I have to get done in a tight time schedule."

Jess closed her book and set it down on the table next to her coffee. "Don't you have to go meet Peter anyway?"

"Not until later and only to have a sit down with Braeden." Derek answered.

"Why?"

"Peter and I have come up with nothing the last week. Braeden has more experience than us in this kind of things. We're hiring her to find her."

Jess smiled at the news and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Good." She said. "I wanna find Kate, too Derek, but did you really think you and Peter alone were gonna find her? She was able to hide from the Calaveras all that time and they had full hunting parties."

Derek pulled her into his lap and nuzzled his face in her neck, breathing in her scent. The motion surprised Jess, but she simply rested her head on top of his and wrapped her thin arms around his neck. He smelled like he always had; of pine and soap mixed in with dry leaves. His facial hair tickled Jess's sensitive skin, but it was a feeling she's grown numb to. His hair was soft and he had a hold on her that was strong enough to let her know he didn't wanna let her go, but not too strong so that it would hurt. "Promise me you won't do anything reckless, though." Jess told him. "I love you, but if you get hurt on this hunt for Kate I will personally kick your ass." Derek chuckled and picked his head up to look at her. He tucked some of her blonde hair behind her ear and met her blue eyes with his green ones. "I promise." He said. Jess smiled and kissed him. Words could not describe how much she loved him.

**OOOOO**

Jess and Derek met Peter at Derek's loft a little bit later after the couple had a chance to get dressed. Derek wore what was similar to what he always wore: black jeans and a blue long sleeved shirt that hugged his torso so you could make out where his muscles were. Jess surprised Derek with her outfit. She used to always wear jeans and basic kinds of shirts when it was for casual outings, but today she wore a high waisted black skirt with a dark green blouse and crème colored scarf. She wore a pair of brown boots and clipped her hair back in a messy bun. When Derek saw her, he couldn't help but notice how grown up she looked now. What used to be medium length black hair was now long and blonde, her dark colored clothes were replaced with lighter ones to add contrast to the dark colors she still wore, and she had much more life to her face and body. It was hard to believe how different and mature she looked from what she did almost two years ago, but Derek then remembered she was almost twenty years old. In all the times they were apart from each other, she somehow grew up and matured on her own in her own ways. She really had found out who she was in college and the real world.

When Derek and Jess walked into the loft, Peter was already there standing in the center of the room. "Ah Jess how good to see you." He said as they walked in. "Hi Peter." She replied as she slid her arm out of Derek's. "How are you?"

"Fine, thank you for asking."

Just then the loft door opened and Braeden appeared in the doorway. Jess and Derek turned around and Jess took in the woman's appearance. The scars she had that were left there courtesy of Deucalion stretched from one side of her neck and up to her left cheek and she wore black pants with a dark grey tank top. "Right on time." Peter said as he took a seat on the couch. Derek took a seat next to his uncle while Jess leaned against the post right beside the couch, leaving the chair open for Braeden to sit in. Once the mercenary took a seat, she put her feet up on the table. Peter looked at her feet in disapproval. "The table is Italian."

"So are these boots." Braden replied. Jess had to press her lips together to keep from chuckling. "Now are we gonna talk interior design and fashion or are we gonna talk numbers?"

Jess watched as Peter wrote down an amount on a piece of paper and then slide it towards Braeden. Jess also noticed how Derek was looking at his reflection in his sunglasses rather than paying attention to the deal itself. Derek wasn't conceded so he wasn't looking at his reflection to look at himself, but rather something in particular. Like his eyes.

Braeden looked down at the number and quickly crossed it out before writing her requested amount and sliding it back towards Peter. He looked at the piece of paper and although he held an emotionless expression, Jess knew Braeden wanted a lot more than what Peter offered.

"We're asking you to find Kate not assassinate the president." Peter said.

"I was hired by the Calaveras to find Kate. You're asking me to find her first. Going against the Calaveras is what it's gonna cost you." Braden elaborated.

Jess looked at Peter as he wrote down a new offer and slid the paper towards Braeden. The woman didn't even look at the new offer and slid the paper back. Peter let out an annoyed sound as he stood up from the couch and walked away for a moment. Derek took the paper and ripped it up. "We'll pay." He said. Jess looked at him in surprise. Even though she hadn't seen the number herself, she knew there had to be a lot of zeroes based on Peter's reactions. Speaking of Peter, he didn't look at all happy either. "Just find Kate that's all we want."

Braden left a few minutes later saying she'd return in a little bit and Jess flopped on the couch as Peter slammed the loft door closed. "Are you insane?!" Peter half yelled across the room to Derek who was now leaning against the table in front of the windows. "We didn't have a choice." He replied. "We spent a week looking for her and came up with nothing."

"If we don't find out who told Kate about the vault, we don't get those bonds back. What do you think I'm gonna do then, huh? Get a job?" Peter began walking across to his nephew and Jess watched the scene unfold from where she sat. She could start to smell and sense Derek's irritation with his uncle and knew that both of them would start yelling soon or someone's fangs were going to come out. "My resume is slightly out of date. We got robbed Derek. Robbed!" Peter yelled.

Peter put his hand on Derek's shoulder to turn him around, but Derek quickly grabbed his relative's hand and turned himself around with his fangs out and eyes glowing yellow. He let out a loud growl at his uncle in pure annoyance and irritation. Jess immediately stood up. "Alright both of you calm down." She said as she walked around the table. "Yelling and screaming at one another isn't going to help this situation."

"Oh that's a new look for you." Peter commented on Derek's golden eyes. Derek pulled his arm away from his uncle. "What happened to your eyes?"

"I don't know." Derek answered. "But I'm willing to pay to find out."

**OOOOO**

Since Jess didn't work at the school anymore, she didn't see Scott, Stiles, Malia, and Kira during school hours anymore. It wasn't too bad since Stiles texted her updates every hour on what was going on that was worth knowing about. Only the texts looked like:

_If you're relative came back from the dead, would you want a phone call?_

_Do werecheetahs exist?_

_Freshmen captains shouldn't be allowed._

_Mr. Lacrosse Star is hiding something._

_Math is good to learn for tipping, right?_

_TRIPLE HOMICIDE UNDERGOING INVESTIGATION…not supernatural though…_

_Is a peck on the lips still considered a kiss or…?_

_Freshmen trying to take over as Captain? I think not._

_So…uh…Scott may or may not have hospitalized the new player._

_Okay we're taking the kid to the hospital_

Jess replied to all of Stiles's texts since she was just running errands all day. She picked up her mail, bought groceries, and picked up some flowers for her loft. They were basic orange poppies, her mother's favorite. Once she had run all of her errands, she returned to her loft and put everything away. She hasn't gotten any text from anyone since Stiles's texted her last so she saw that as an all clear to take a shower and work on some school work. That was until Scott texted her.

_Scott: I think I'm in trouble_

_Jess: What happened?_

_Scott: I didn't have a choice…_

_Jess: What happened!_

_Scott:…I bit someone_

**A/N: I know I have been lacking in Jess's interaction with Scott and the others, but it will be made up for in the chapters to come. I wanted to play around with writing Jess's life and transition into becoming a full-fledged adult hence why I have been mentioning her physical changes and changes in her emotion and mental stability. You will see more of her emotional and mental changes in future chapters as well as more of the character interaction. **


	10. New Wolf

_You could be happy and I won't know  
But you weren't happy the day I watched you go  
And all the things that I wished I had not said  
Are played in loops 'till it's madness in my head  
Is it too late to remind you how we were_

_(Snow Patrol-You Could Be Happy)_

After Scott texted her, Jess got over to his house as quickly as possible. She took her car and sped through traffic lights and stop sighs to get him as fast as she could. He bit someone. Scott bit someone. Did he forget Araya's threat to come after him if he bit an innocent? He said he didn't have a choice and Jess didn't know the full story yet, but she was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that Scott…McCall…bit someone which would turn that someone into a werewolf. Who did he even bite?

When Jess finally got to the house, she rushed inside and called for Scott. Footsteps sounded from upstairs and then Stiles and Scott appeared at the top of the hardwood stairs. "What the hell is going on?" Jess questioned. "Oh thank God you're here." Stiles breathed out in relief. "Get up here." The two boys walked back down the hall and Jess let out a scoff before rushing up the steps and walking to Scott's bedroom where she was met by Scott and Stiles standing in front of a teenager that was tied up and duct taped. Jess widened her eyes at the sight and looked at the boys in shock. "What the hell is this?" she demanded as she stepped into the room.

"I panicked." Scott said.

"You panicked? And your immediate reaction was to tie and bound a teenage boy to a chair who is probably freaked out enough as it is?"

"Well he was in the bathtub at first."

Jess squinted her eyes at his before running her hands through her hair. "Take. The. Tape. Off. Of. His. Mouth." She told the two boys. They turned around and Stiles looked at Liam. "If you scream, the tape goes back on, if you talk quietly, it stays off, understand?" Liam nodded and Stiles ripped the tape off of his mouth. Jess clenched her teeth at the sound of the tape being ripped off the poor boy's mouth and then went over to stand between Scott and Stiles. "Alright since both of you two are idiots." She hissed before kneeling down in front of Liam. "Liam I am sure you have seen a lot of confusing things tonight and more confusing things are going to happen because of what Scott did."

"And what I did, which I had to do in order to save you, it's gonna change you." Scott interjected.

"Unless it kills you." Stiles added. Jess looked at him and then punched him in the stomach. The teenage boy bent over and let out a grunt of pain. "You are not helping." Jess told him through clenched teeth. This whole situation was bad enough as it was. Liam was bit, tied to a chair, and now told he might die. Everything seemed to hit Liam at once because he began to tear up. Jess put a hand on his shoulder. "Look Liam it's okay." She soothed him. Scott kneeled down next to her. "You're not gonna die." He added.

"Probably not." Stiles blurted out as he kneeled down as well.

Jess turned her head to look at him. "Stiles." She spit.

"Possibly."

"Can we just untie the kid please?!"

The three of them stood up and Scott and Stiles removed the duct tape from him. "Liam are you alright?" Jess asked as the boy stood up.

"We're sorry. Like really sorry." Stiles added.

Jess watched as Liam turned around and grabbed the back of the chair he was originally tied to and widened her eyes. She quickly pushed Stiles out of the way just as Liam picked up the chair and spun around, hitting Scott across the back with it. Scott fell on top of Jess and was crushed underneath the alpha's weight. "Liam what the hell is your prob-" was Stiles managed to say before being punched across the face. Jess pushed Scott off of her as Liam ran out of the room. The two teenage boys stood up and rushed after him as Jess collected herself. "Get him!" she heard one of them yell before they sprinted down the hall. Jess ran out of the room just in time to see her two best friends tackle Liam down the stairs. The screams and yells bounced off the walls as they tumbled down the hardwood steps to the front door. It just sounded painful. By the times Jess reached the top of the stairs though, Scott and Stiles were wrestling with each other's legs as Liam took off down the street.

"I got him!" Stiles yelled.

"Hey dumb asses." Jess said. "You got each other."

Stiles and Scott looked at one another and then noticed the open front door. "Your plan sucks!" Scott yelled at Stiles.

"Both of you suck!" Jess exclaimed as she walked down the stairs. "First you bite the kid and then you bound and duct tape him as a hostage in your house."

Scott and Stiles stood up as Jess reached the bottom of the steps. "I didn't have a choice in biting him. He would have died." Scott explained.

"Why? How?"

"Do you know what a Windego is?"

Jess narrowed her eyes. "They're shape shifting cannibals."

"Well that family that was murdered, they were a family of them and the son, Sean, was the only one who survived. He turned up at the hospital and killed a police officer and then went after my mom before Liam. Liam was dangling off the roof and Sean had my arms pinned behind by back…if I didn't bite him…Liam would have fallen and ended up on the pavement."

Jess let out a breath. "I'm sorry I didn't know but Scott there is a way to go about this. Derek and Peter may not have helped you the way you wished you were helped when you first got bit so don't do the same thing to Liam. Help him the way you wished you got helped."

Scott sat down on the steps and Jess sat next to him. "How?" he asked. "I don't how to be an alpha to someone I bit."

"Time. Let Liam have a night to himself and try talking to him tomorrow at school."

"Then what?"

"Then explain what's happening and what will happen. The full moon is tomorrow and if I recall neither of us had a good first experience on our first full moons."

"And after that."

"Scott I never bit someone either so in my opinion…you may wanna talk to Derek or Peter about this. Derek handled Erica, Isaac, and Boyd on his own and Peter…we don't give him enough credit."

"Because he's a psychopath." Stiles interjected as he closed the front door.

"Yeah, but do you really think we could have figured out as much as we have without his… resurrection. I hate to say it, but Peter, as much as you hate him, he's valuable."

Jess stood up. "I'll talk to you two tomorrow. Get some rest." She went towards the door, but Scott stopped her. "One more question."

"What?" she replied.

"Ever hear of a non-supernatural creature that has no mouth?"

Jess pushed her eyebrows together before responding. "Maybe he's just a mute."

**OOOOO**

The next day Jess was doing what she seemed to always be doing these days: school work. She was sitting at her desk as Derek flipped through the case files on the triple homicide while pacing through the room. Jess managed to tune his footsteps out as she typed her paper, but was growing irritated at herself. She couldn't get what she wanted to say into words. Her English teacher was the biggest hard ass and was the kind of guy who pointed out every single flaw or mistake in someone's work or just another person in general. English was always her best subject and she used to get all A's in the class until she got Mr. Rodgers as her teacher. Then she started getting B's and it was making her want to her wanna rip her hair out.

Scott and Stiles had already put their brilliant plan into action of getting Liam to Lydia's lake house. Jess wasn't sold on the idea of tricking him to get him there, but the full moon was that night and they couldn't take any risks. Jess offered her help to Scott after learning about his failure to confront Liam at school, but Scott told her he had to do it on his own. Scott was the one who bit him and turned him into a werewolf in the first place. Liam was his beta and his responsibility.

Derek noticed how tense Jess had gotten and couldn't help but notice how many times she was hitting the backspace button. He closed the case file and set it on the bed before walking over to her. He rested his hands on her shoulders and looked at her screen. Her word count was already at about three thousand and had about six pages. She wasn't even done yet.

"Ever think about taking a break?" Derek asked her.

Jess laughed. "Yeah I'd love to, but I have to send the paper in tomorrow morning and I'm not done editing…"

Derek leaned down and pressed his lips to her neck. She smiled and tilted her head to the side as a blush crept across her cheeks. "You aren't helping." She said as she pulled her head away and looked at him. He gave her an innocent look but kept a mischievous smile on his face. "I wasn't trying to help." He told her as he leaned in to kiss her. Jess pulled her head back and Derek looked at her in defeat.

"English paper first." She told him as she turned back to her laptop. He kissed the side of her head and then went back to reading the report when his phone started to ring. It was Peter. "Yeah?" Derek said in greeting. Jess wasn't paying attention to the phone call so didn't hear what Peter was saying until Derek seemed to get worried.

"Wait what?" he gasped.

Jess turned to look at him when she heard that. "Look just stay there I'll be there in five minutes." Derek hung up the phone and Jess stood up from her computer. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Peter was attacked."

"By who?"

"I don't know all he said was someone was at the loft and put an axe in his chest."

"Wait. Was it an axe or a tomahawk?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yeah. That family that was killed, well you heard what Braeden said. They were hacked up my a military tomahawk."

Derek grabbed his jacket off the bed and walked over to Jess. "Look right now it doesn't matter. I'll see you later." He quick kissed her and then hurried out of the loft before Jess offered to go with him. She let out a breath and then sat back down at her desk, looking for her phone. It was buried under all of her papers and took a minute or two to locate, but when she did she went to call Scott and Stiles. Before she had a chance to though, there was a knock on her door. She set her phone down and walked over to the door, wondering why Derek wouldn't just walk back in. The door wasn't locked and even if it was he had a key.

"Forget something?" Jess asked as she opened the door. Only it wasn't Derek. Instead she found herself looking at someone she hasn't seen in years. He was a bit taller and filled out his old thin figure with muscles that we visible with the shirt he was wearing. His old shaggy brown hair was now cut in a style similar to Scott's and his hazel eyes still shined like diamonds when the light hit them. He looked so grown up and mature now the way Jess had grown in the same way.

"Hey Jessica." He greeted as he tucked his hands in his pockets. "Long time so see."

Jess couldn't form words. Her mind was blank at the sight of the man in front of her. Her mouth hung open and her eyes were glued to her face as she finally snapped back to reality. "Colin?"

**A/N: So this was originally going to be the full episode, but well, heh, I couldn't resist this cliffhanger. It had to be done. Anyway…thoughts?**


	11. Reevaluation

_Merrily we fall  
Out of line, out of line  
I'd fall anywhere with you  
I'm by your side_

_(I Wouldn't Mind ~ He is We)_

**OOOOO**

"Colin?"

Colin chuckled and looked at Jess carefully. She looked like a completely different person than she did back in her junior year when they were together. "I guess I should have called…" he began. "And I'm sorry for just dropping by so suddenly, but when Max told me about you…I had to come down." Jess was still at a complete loss of words. All coherent thought abandoned her head the second her eyes found Colin standing in the doorway. "Are you going to say something?" Colin asked.

"I-" Jess muttered. "What are you doing here?"

"I had to see you. After we left things…"

"You left things."

Colin gave her a long look before speaking again. "The way I left things, I thought you deserved more than an apology over the phone."

Jess narrowed her eyes at him. He wanted to…apologize? For what? Breaking up with her the first chance he got and then taking off to Washington with his family for school leaving her heart shattered? All Jess could think was crying her eyes out in her room with wrappers from candy and tissues stained with mascara covering her floor. She remembered thinking how much she wanted her dad to be there to tell her he'd find the guy who broke his little girl's heart and kick his teeth in. Her mom was there for her, but being that she was a single mother who needed to work to pay bills she didn't get to be there as much as she wanted to be. And to make matters worse, Jess was always a bit of a loner so she didn't have many friends to be there for her either. After her dad died people saw her as a time bomb always a second away from a breakdown so the friends she did have distanced themselves.

"What I did was really shitty and you didn't deserve it. I thought maybe it would be easier." Colin began.

"EASIER?!" Jess half yelled. "You packed your things, dumped me with a half ass explanation, and then took off to another state!"

Colin's eyes fell to the ground in shame. Jess let out an annoyed breath when her phone buzzed. Pulling it out of her pocket, she saw it was Derek. He texted her:

_Meet me at the police station._

"I don't have time for your pathetic apologies." Jess growled as she grabbed her keys from the bowl next to the door and pushed her ex-boyfriend aside. He stepped back so she could close and lock her door. "Look I am down here for the weekend." He told her as she locked the deadbolt. "Can we please just talk over coffee or something?"

"No." Jess answered quickly as she turned to walk down the hall to the stairs. Colin followed her. "Look my sister is marrying your brother we are going to have to talk sometime."

"No we don't."

"Yes we do."

"Colin!"

Jess turned to face him and he stopped a few inches in front of her. Jess met his eyes. "Just leave me alone. I will talk to you on my own time for the sake of my brother and your sister. But so help me God if you come by my loft again unannounced I will kill you." Colin couldn't fight off the smirk on his face. "Wipe that look off your face." Jess warned. "Or I will smack it off."

"Good to see the only thing that has changed about you is your hair. You still have the same attitude." Colin replied. Jess let out a sound of disgust before walking down to her car.

**OOOOO**

When Jess arrived at the station, she was didn't realize she was still in a pair of black capri sweatpants, one of Derek's grey muscle shirts, and wore a pair of navy blue vans on her feet. She was so focused on getting away from Colin, she didn't even think of slamming the door in his face to change clothes. Great.

"May I help you ma'am?" the woman at the front desk asked as she tucked some of her black locks behind her ears and fixed the bottom of her shirt.

"I'm looking for Sheriff Stillinski." Jess replied as she walked over.

"He's in his office. Are you Jessica?"

"Yeah I am."

"He's expecting you, just go on back."

"Thank you."

Jess walked back to the desk area and then over to where the Sheriff's office was. Inside she saw Parish sitting at a laptop with Derek to his left and Stillinski to his right. Derek hadn't noticed her yet, but Jess smiled at the sight of him. Something about seeing Colin again made Jess want nothing more than to be with Derek. Maybe it was because even though he broke her heart once, he managed to put the pieces together. Maybe it was because he somehow found a new way every day to show her how much he loved her. Or maybe it was because he managed to make her feel a strong even when she felt weak. There were countless reasons why she loved Derek, but the number one reason was for the person she was around him because of him. He made her happy and have a sense of security when they were together.

In the office, Derek picked his head up and saw his girlfriend standing outside. He smiled at the sight of her and motioned for her to come in. She came in right away and before anyone could say a single word, she walked straight over to Derek and slipped her arms around him. Derek was a little surprised at her actions, but slipped his arms around her in return. The Sheriff and Parish looked at Derek in confusion and he looked at them without an answer. He held Jess a little tighter and turned his head so his lips were in her hair. "Everything alright?" he whispered.

"I just love you." Jess told him.

"I love you, too."

After that, Jess let go of Derek and looked at the police officers in the room. "What's going on?" she asked as she felt Derek's arm slip around her. "Peter was attacked. I'll fill you in later but he managed to grab this off the person who went after him." He explained, pointing at the long glove with a keyboard on the forearm. "Parish is trying to trace an IP address." Stillinski added.

"So you might be able to find whoever it is that the…sleeve belongs to?" Jess asked.

"Exactly."

"Okay I think I've got an IP address." Parish told the three.

Stillinski leaned forward on the desk to look at the screen more closely as Jess and Derek stayed back to give the Deputy his space. "So now we'll be able to find him." The sheriff said.

"Definitely." Parish replied. "Especially if-"

Parish was cut off by the sound of robotic sound and movement of the sleeve on the desk. The fingers twitched and a sound was quickly given off. "What was that?" Jess questioned in worry. From as far as she could see, no one in the room did something to cause the glove to move except for Parish who was behind the computer.

"I think I found a message." He said. "Does anyone recognize the handle, Benefactor?"

"A benefactor as in someone who gives money for a cause?" Jess asked.

Another message popped up on the screen that read: _Money Transferred._

"What's that mean?" Derek asked.

It didn't take long for Jess to piece it together. If whoever went after Peter with the intent to kill him was expecting money from a person called the Benefactor…

"That means this guy isn't just a killer." Stillinski said. "He's an assassin."

**OOOOO**

After finding out that there was an assassin in Beacon Hills, Jess texted Scott to see how things were going at Lydia's lake house. Stiles had mentioned Malia still struggled with the full moon so when she didn't get a response from him, he figured he was dealing with the werecoyote. When she didn't hear back from Scott, she figured he was dealing with Liam. It seemed like everyone was doing something different this time around rather than everyone being in the same place at once. Jess wasn't chasing Scott around to help him anymore since he didn't need too much of her help anymore which was a good feeling for Jess. He was finally becoming the alpha he always had the capability of being.

"Is everything alright?" Derek asked Jess as he drove them to the school behind the Sheriff.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Jess retorted.

"At the station you just seemed…off."

Jess rested her head on the window. "I didn't think my life could get anymore turned upside down…can we talk about it later when it's just you and me and we aren't trying to find an assassin?"

"Sure."

When they arrived at the school, Jess instantly smelled blood. Her face scrunched up at the scent. "What?" Derek asked as he closed the car door. "Don't you smell that?" she questioned. Derek took in a breath, but smelled nothing but the air around them. He shook his head and the two of them walked towards the building with Stillinski. Maybe Jess was just imagining it or smelled blood that was somewhere else. But it seemed close…

Derek and the sheriff opened the doors and walked in with Jess following behind them. The high school was always creepy at night. Something about the dark halls and how the sound of voices and footsteps echoed made Jess's skin crawl. The smell of blood got stronger and she looked at Derek who still seemed oblivious to the scent. How could he not smell it? She wondered if it had to do with his eyes. No…it couldn't be…could it?

"Just because this guy connected to the school's wifi doesn't mean he's still here." Derek pointed out.

"True…" the sheriff agreed. "But I've seen enough in this school to carry a gun after dark."

"He has a valid point…" Jess added.

The three walked a few more feet when Jess finally saw the blood she's smelled. She knew it was too close to be something farther away. "There it is." She said, looking at the pool of blood that was under the door of a classroom. "There's the blood." Derek looked at it in surprise. "Why couldn't I smell it, but you could?" Derek questioned.

"You tell me."

Derek and Jess exchanged a look for a moment before Derek walked over to the door to open it. The sheriff immediately stopped him by putting his hand on the doorknob. "You two being nervous makes me nervous." He told them. Derek stepped aside with Jess so the sheriff could shine the flashlight into the room to see if there was anything or anyone lurking in the shadows. When he saw the room was clear, he put his hand on the doorknob with his gun raised and ready to fire in case something jumped out in surprise. Jess prepared herself in case something did in fact come out to surprise them. The sheriff opened the door slowly and cautiously and thank God he did because if you pulled the door any farther, he would have set off a claymore. Derek kneeled down to see what was on the other side of the door that couldn't be seen standing up.

"It's an explosive." He said. "A claymore."

The sheriff let out a breath of relief at the fact he didn't set it off and kill the him plus the two werewolves he had with him. Even if they had extreme healing capabilities, an explosion would make them end up like Peter was after the fire in order to heal. The sound of footsteps made both Jess and Derek turn their heads to look behind them. Their eyes immediately landed on a dark figure with no mouth pulling his arm back in preparation to throw a tomahawk.

"Get down!" Derek yelled as he pulled the sheriff down to the ground while Jess jumped to the ground on the left. Jess immediately heard the sound of the blade entering the wall and looked up as the Mute jumped over the stairs. She stood up and extended her claws before letting out a loud growl. "Jess wait!" Derek called out from the floor where he and the sheriff were, but she was already advancing on the Mute. She knew they couldn't kill him if they wanted to find out who was paying to have Peter killed, but if he was hurt enough they could get some answers out of him. Well after they gave him his keyboard sleeve back or a pen and paper because the whole no mouth thing made talking impossible.

The Mute swung his tomahawk as Jess approached him, but she spun out of its path just in time. She went to swing her claws at him, but he caught her arm with her free hand and kicked her in the stomach. Jess stumbled back into the lockers on the other side of the hall and the Mute approached her with his tomahawk raised. She ran at him and tackled him into the lockers opposite of her, only to be grabbed ahold of and thrown across the hall again. She hit the ground hard and rolled a couple of feet as the Mute approached her, but Derek saw this as an opening. He grabbed the Mute from behind and threw him back into the lockers, but he quickly stood back up only to have Derek kick him back again. The look in the Mute's eyes signaled he was getting angry and this time when he got up, he was swinging his tomahawk. Derek managed to twist the weapon out of his grip and pin the Mute's arms behind his back as the sheriff stood up with the gun pointed at the Mute's head.

Jess pulled herself to her feet and walked over to where Derek stood with the Mute as the sheriff began to recite the Miranda Rights to him while pulling out his handcuffs. Jess saw a figure at the end of the hall suddenly appear and had to squint a little bit to see who it was. It was Peter. Oh no. This wasn't going to end well…at all…not even a little bit good.

"Derek…" Jess whispered while still looking at Peter.

Derek looked at her and then down the hall where she was looking. When he saw his uncle his face fell. "Peter!" Derek half yelled while continuing to restrain the Mute. That's when Peter began running at them. "Peter wait don't!" Jess shouted, but made no attempt to move. The Mute was the only lead they had so far to this mysterious benefactor and if he died they were screwed. Derek grabbed his girlfriend and the sheriff and pulled them to the ground once Peter got too close. The three of them landed on the ground with a thud, Jess between Derek and the sheriff. She instantly looked up to see Peter tearing into the Mute with his claws. Blood splashed onto Peter's face and the Mute was dead within a matter of seconds from having his throat slashed into, but Peter kept slashing away. Jess wanted so badly to get up and pull the psychotic werewolf off of him, but Derek had an arm around her to keep her from doing just that.

When Peter finally finished slashing his claws across the Mute, he picked up a piece of matted, torn up, flesh as he looked at Derek, Jess, and the Sheriff who wore shocked expressions on their face. Jess began to stand up and Derek helped her to her feet as the Sheriff rose with his gun pointed at Peter. Peter got to his feet and pulled a white cloth out of his pocket to wipe his hands. Despite the…messy situation…Jess couldn't help but wonder why the hell he had it handy.

As Peter wiped his hands, he looked at the sheriff and the gun pointed at him. He just shook his head, knowing the sheriff wasn't going to shoot him. He turned around and began walking back down the hall to the exit. Anger finally began to bubble in Jess at the fact that Peter just killed the only lead they had to the Benefactor. "We've learned a better way." Derek called after his uncle.

"I'm a creature of habit." Peter replied flatly without turning around.

_Creature of habit _Jess thought. _Habit as in killing? Or habit in killing people who tried to kill you?_

**OOOOO**

That night back at Jess's loft, she was brushing her hair out in the bathroom trying to get all the knots and tangles out. She hated to admit, but the blonde was kind of growing on her. She wasn't a fan of it before since the hairdresser messed up the dye and made her a blonde by accident, but now after having it for over a week…she liked it. Maybe she'd keep it blonde.

Jess quickly stopped brushing her hair when she realized that instead of thinking about her hair instead of the fact that Peter killed the only lead they had to the benefactor. She put her hairbrush on the vanity and let out an annoyed breath. She was going to kill Peter. He was gone by the time she, Derek, and Stillinski left the school, but Jess made a mental note to put him up against a wall the next time she saw him.

"Jess?" Derek called from the bedroom. "You alright?"

"Yeah." She replied as she walked out and found Derek pulling back the sheets on the bed. He was in a pair of black sweats a grey t-shirt. When he saw her he smiled weakly. "Wanna talk about what was bothering you earlier now?" he asked. Jess leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom and played with the bottom of her t-shirt. "After you left…" she began. "Colin stopped by…" Derek's body immediately tensed up and he looked at her in surprise. "I had no idea he was here or coming here…he just showed up. He tried apologizing to me and I yelled at him…" The words seemed to just stop as Jess spoke. She didn't want to talk about it. She didn't want to talk about her stupid ex-boyfriend from two years ago with Derek right now or ever in all honesty, but then she spoke again. "He's in Beacon Hills until Sunday and I told him I'd talk to him again for Maxton and Emily's sake."

Derek stayed silent for several moments before responding. "Did he say anything else?" he asked. Jess shrugged. "Not really."

Derek noticed Jess's hesitation to talk and he walked over to her. "Look you know I trust you, right?" he asked. She nodded. "And given your present situation it's not like you can avoid the guy forever."

"I wish I could."

"I wish you could, too, but given the circumstances-"

Jess cut Derek off midsentence by pressing her lips to his. He was surprised at the sudden gesture, but kissed her back all the less. He'd always kiss her back. It was a short kiss, but when Jess pulled back, she put her forehead against his. "I'm done talking about Colin." She said with closed eyes. "But we need to talk about your uncle."

"I know what he did-"

"We can't trust him anymore."

Derek looked at her and stepped back a step. "Why do you say that?"

"Derek I know he's your uncle, but tonight he slaughtered someone who tried to kill him."

"I know. I was there."

"And he killed everyone who had a connection to the Hale fire." Jess added. "He has killed almost everyone who has tried to kill him…what do you think he would do to the someone or someone's who successfully killed him?"

Derek gave Jess a long look. He refused to believe that Peter would…relapse into the life of a cold killer again. He proved on multiple occasions that he had forgotten that life. Peter was his only blood family left aside from Cora who was now in South America. Derek turned around and walked a few feet away from Jess. "No…if he wanted to kill any of us he would have just done it." He pointed out as he turned to face Jess.

"No because he would want to gain our trust back. And he'd wait, he would wait for the perfect time, moment, and place to kill any one of us whether it is you, Scott, Stiles…any of us."

"How can you be so sure?"

Jess let out a breath. "He said it himself…he's a creature of habit."


	12. Unlocked

**A/N: Being that the money on the deadpool HAS to add up ta hundred and seventeen million dollars, I took ten million off of Lydia's price (dropping her value to ten million) and five million off of Scott's (dropping his value to twenty million) so Jess is worth fifteen million in total. I won't lie, I didn't think Lydia would be worth twenty million in the long run since especially since she didn't have any close calls like the other characters did. Just my opinion. Also, ANOTHER OC is on the list as well (you will find out who in the very near future) so Kate's value dropped from twelve million to nine million and Satomi's value dropped from ten to eight million so the other OC is worth five million. I had to really work around the prices to make this go right, but quite honestly it doesn't matter all that much at the end of the day as long as the end result is a hundred seventeen million. **

**OOOOO**

"How did you find money for this?" Jess asked Stiles as she looked at the see through writing board set up in the middle of his bedroom. It was before school on Monday after a weekend of finding out more life threatening information. Stiles stopped putting books in his bag as he looked at the board. "The station was already getting rid of it so…" he said as he resumed packing his bag.

"So let me make sure I have everything."

Jess turned around from the board to face Stiles. "There is a dead pool, or a hit list of super natural creatures, and there are a bunch of assassins running around that are going to attempt to murder us." She began "And this list was discovered by Lydia who broke the code using Allison's name, but it is only a third of the list. So far it has shown Lydia, Kira, Scott, Derek, and me. Oh and I'm worth fifteen million?"

"Fifteen million is correct." Stiles replied.

"The numbers next to our names will add up to a hundred and seventeen million as in the hundred and seventeen million dollars that was stolen from Peter and Derek from the vault which basically means we all have a price tag as of right now to whoever kills us. So far the Walcott family, the guy from the party who delivered the keg, and the girl they found stabbed in the chest are all dead, but there's no order of how we're going to be killed or attempted to be killed. And to put the cherry on top, there might be another werewolf pack somewhere in Beacon Hills and Lydia is still trying to decode the rest of the list with no success."

"She's trying." Stiles told her.

"I know."

Jess and Stiles walked out of his room together in silence. Jess tucked her blonde locks behind her ear as the descended down the stairs. "Jess?" Stiles asked. "Hm?" she sounded as they got to the bottom of the steps. Stiles turned towards her so they faced each other. He was wearing a red shirt under a red and blue plaid shirt with khaki pants. The pants made Jess think of the State Farm commercial, but Stiles had that look in his eye where he meant her was going to be serious. "Just please be careful…" he said. "I don't wanna lose you. I almost did before and I don't wanna feel like that again. I also don't wanna lose you period." Jess smiled and wrapped her arms around Stiles. He hugged her back and rested his head on her shoulder. He loved her like family and didn't want anything happening to her again. She was too important.

"You won't lose me Stiles." She reassured him. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

Stiles laughed and the friends let go of one another. Stiles looked at the floor and Jess smelled something off about him. "What?" she questioned. "I don't wanna deal with this heavy stuff this early." Stiles looked up and let out a breath. "At the lake house when we were explaining to Liam what all of us were," he began. "He asked what I was and when I told him I was possess by an evil spirit he asked what I was now and I just felt so…small compared to you guys."

Jess's face dropped. Stiles in no way was small. He may have been human, but he was a lot more than just that. "Stiles, you may not have claws or fangs or have the ability to absorb electricity through your fingertips or predict death, but you are the strongest, most bravest person I know. How many times have you been in a situation where most people would have pissed themselves and you kept your head high?"

Stiles smiled and nodded. "You mean that?"

"Of course I do!" Jess said a little louder. "Stiles you may be human, but you're a damn courageous one."

Stiles smiled and put an arm around her as they walked out. "I am pretty courageous aren't I?" Jess rolled her eyes.

**OOOOO**

After leaving Stiles's house, Jess picked up Derek at the high school. "So how'd it go with Liam?" she asked after he got in. Derek closed the door behind him and looked at Jess. "Scott is gonna be good at this." He said. "Being an alpha to one of his own."

"Wow." Jess said with a smile.

"What?"

She shrugged. "A year ago you were a cold, bitter, secluded loner."

Derek raised an eyebrow at her as she continued. "And now you're this warm, kind, open person who no longer hides in creepy train yards."

Jess gave him her best smile and he simply shook his head as he looked out the windshield, a small smile playing across his face. Jess started the car and pulled out of the school parking lot.

**OOOOO**

A little while later, Derek and Jess were back at his loft in his bed only they were both fully dressed and reading. Jess was sitting between Derek's legs with a book in her lap as he read from his book that was sitting on the bed next to them. She was reading Stephan King for school and he was reading a book of folklore to kill time. Neither of them had much of anything to do since neither of them had jobs and Jess had her school work for the next month completed and turned in. Right now it was quiet and the only thing Jess could hear were there steady breaths and heartbeats which along with reading was making her drowsy. Her eyes felt heavy and she felt herself slipping when her book fell and hit her lap. She perked up after that and refocused her attention on the words.

Since she was already nearly done with the book, Jess finished up the last of Stephan King's words in forty five minutes and closed the book when she was done. She looked at the closed book for a moment before tossing it to the side. Derek looked at her. "Done?" he asked.

"Yup."

Derek nuzzled his face in her neck and nipped at her flesh before placing soft kisses on the skin. Jess could fight the light chuckle from escaping her lips at the tickling sensation from his stubble. Derek's arms tightened around her as he pulled her closer and kissed her down to her bare shoulder since she was wearing a loose red tank top with her blue skinny jeans. He pushed her hair to the side and kissed up to her jawline before she finally turned to meet his lips with hers. The moment was short lived though because then Jess's phone began to ring.

"Ignore it." Derek muttered.

"Nice try." Jess replied as she quick escaped Derek's grasp and crawled to the end of her bed where her jacket was. She fished her phone out of the pocket and saw it was Stiles.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" she questioned in greeting.

"You. School. Now." He replied.

"For?"

"One of the assassins is on the lacrosse team."

"Okay ask me nicely."

"Ask you nicely what?"

"To come to the school."

Jess could practically hear Stiles scowling at her through the phone. "Will you please come to the school?"

"I'll be there in five."

Jess hung up and stood up, pulling her jacket on and grabbed in flats to put back on. "Leaving so soon?" Derek questioned as he scooted to the edge of the bed.

"One of the assassins is a player on the lacrosse team." Jess explained as she balanced on one foot to pull on her flat. "I am going to talk to Stiles and probably Scott which mean Kira will most likely be there as well."

"Still don't like Kira?"

"I don't like her mother. And Kira…I just…I'm so used to seeing Scott with Allison." Jess said the last part quietly. To this day she still felt guilty about not giving Allison a second chance. She knew the huntress redeemed herself, but Jess was too stubborn to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Allison isn't your fault." Derek told her in a soft tone as he stood up.

"I know that, I just wish I could have done more."

"We all do."

Jess tucked some hair behind her ear and then picked her head up to look at her boyfriend. "Dinner date tonight?" she asked. Derek smiled and wrapped his arms around her. "Yeah. Be careful today." He told her. The couple separated and Jess kissed him quickly before leaving the loft.

**OOOOO**

At the school Jess found Scott, Stiles, and Kira in the locker room standing around Coach's desk that was covered in lacrosse sticks. She managed to slip in the side door to the locker room rather than entering the school through the front where the offices were.

"Lacrosse sticks?" she questioned as she walked into the office.

"The knife marks in that girl's chest match up to the size of the end of a lacrosse stick." Stiles explained. "Now will you please tell these two to get tonight's game cancelled?"

"Why?"

"Because if the killer is on the team, it'll be slicing central for these two if they're playing."

"Or Liam." Scot added. "We don't have the whole list, he could be on it."

"We don't know anything about the dead pool." Jess reminded him as she stepped in. "How it's made or how it's updated or anything. Who's been taking a super natural census anyway for that matter? I mean they know about Kira and she's been in Beacon Hills all of a couple of months."

"Look Kira's right…we have to stop the game." Stiles told Scott.

"I'm not afraid." The alpha replied.

"Neither am I." Kira added.

"Guys, you should be. At least a little bit." Jess told them. "They're killers."

"Not just killers, professional killers. It's their profession!" Stiles exclaimed. "One of them has a thermal cut wire that cuts heads off. Who knows what else they have…"

"You know what hunters have…automatic weapons, weaponized wolfs bane, batons that distributes thousands of volts of electricity…" Jess listed. "Stiles has a point…we don't how armed they are which makes them an even bigger threat."

Scott and Jess exchanged a look before the bell rang. "Alright the three of you get back to class. I am going to go cancel my date with Derek and meet you guys at the game later."

Scott and Kira left but Stiles gave Jess a long stare with one half-twitched eye. Jess pushed her eyebrows together. "What?"

"There are supernatural assassins running around Beacon Hills and you're going on dates?" Stiles asked.

"It was going to be dinner, not a wedding."

Jess left the office and headed back towards her car when the mention of the word "wedding" made her think of Maxton, Emily, and Colin. She didn't know when they'd be back in Beacon Hills to start the heavy duty wedding planning, but she was not looking forwards to it in the least. She didn't want to see Emily, she didn't want to see Colin, hell, she didn't even know if she wanted to see Maxton. It was all too overwhelming. First assassins trying to kill all the supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills and then she had her brother marrying into her ex-boyfriend's family. Perfect. Just perfect.

**OOOOO**

That night at the game, Jess sat in the stands with Derek's black leather jacket zipped up to her neck with a scarf and long sleeved shirt on underneath, a beanie on her head, and gloves keeping her hands warm. It was already getting colder out and tonight was no exception. Jess could see her breath every time she talked or breathed out of her mouth at all. She rubbed her arms to attempt to heat herself up and as bad as it was, she couldn't help but think how if things were different, she could be having a nice dinner at a nice restaurant with her boyfriend.

The game started right after Scott failed to get Liam on the bench for the game, much to Jess's despair. Liam didn't have control the way her and Scott did and was a huge flight risk. Especially with his IED and history with Devenport. The thoughts only got worse when Jess remembered Scott playing lacrosse before he had control. He nearly shifter twice in front of the crowd and the teams and coaches. It could have ended really badly had things not been taken care of the way they were.

Despite her being cold down to the bone, Jess played close attention to Liam on the field along with Garret who was under the suspicion of being one of the assassins. When Jess got a good look at him before he had all of his gear on, he didn't look like much. He wasn't very tall and he wasn't very muscular, but then again looks could be deceiving. Liam nearly lost his head pretty early on after being knocked down by two of the preppy jerks from Devenport, Liam's old school. Jess still couldn't believe Scott bit a kid with IED. She knew it was an "in the moment" thing and he didn't have another choice, but the odds? Well, they definitely weren't in their favor.

As the game progressed, it was pretty clear Liam was getting less and less level. Every time Liam got knocked down or even Scott or Stiles for that matter, the tension just seemed to build and build. It was hard to keep track of Liam and Garrett _and_ Scott _and_ Kira. That's why when Kira got benched, Jess smiled to herself. She felt bad about it and she really was trying to like Kira, but after what happened with Stiles, Jess couldn't look past it. Then again, she was still feeling guilty for not giving Allison a chance. And Kira didn't even do anything at her own will or intentionally.

Right when Jess was starting to relax, just a little, things got worse before they got better. A kid from Deveport and Liam crashed into one another and both hit the ground….hard…and didn't get right back up. Everyone in the stands gasped in shock and Jess literally shot out of her seat. She went to run out onto the field, but saw Scott tend to his own beta. She didn't tune in her hearing to listen, but watched them interact instead. She smiled at Scott's actions and movements. Derek was right. He was going to be good at this. Actually…he already was.

When the game finally was coming to a near close, Jess walked down to where Scott, Liam, and Kira were. "Are all of you alright?" she asked as she climbed over a bench to get to them. "Yeah." Scott answered.

"I talked to Coach." Liam said. "I'm out the rest of the game."

"What're you gonna do?" Kira asked Scott.

"I don't know something's still not right we're missing something." He replied.

"Guys!" Stiles's voice sounded.

The three turned around and saw Stiles approach, phone in hand. "Lydia just broke another third of the list." He told them.

"Am I on it?" Liam immediately asked.

"No, but someone else is."

"Who?" Jess asked.

"Brett...and he went down with Liam with Garret standing by."

The gears turned behind Scott's eyes and he immediately took off towards the locker room. Jess went to go after him, but Stiles grabbed her arm. "I have to go help him!" Jess told him, yanking her arm away. "Jess there was someone else on the list." Stiles told her.

"Of course there was, the list had to have had at least twelve people." Jess replied, annoyed.

"Someone you know."

Jess's face fell.

"It's Colin...you're ex-boyfriend."


End file.
